Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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130. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of meetings held since November 2015 with the insurance industry; if he has reached agreement in respect of home owners being refused flood cover because of the perceived threat of flooding; if he will advise residents accordingly; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6510/16]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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On 12 January of this year, the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and other Ministers met the CEOs of the insurance industry to communicate the benefits of flood defence schemes carried out by the Office of Public Works and to discuss the provision of flood insurance in areas protected by flood defence schemes. Subsequently, Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the insurance industry, advised that approximately 98% of property insurance policies nationally include flood cover and that in areas protected by flood defence schemes constructed by the Office of Public Works (OPW), 83% of policies include flood cover. Insurance Ireland advised that the rate of cover is 89% in areas protected by fixed defences and 78% where the protection includes demountable defences. Demountable defences are used in four of the sixteen schemes that have been completed to the 1:100 year standard, required by the industry.

A further meeting of the OPW/Insurance Ireland Working Group on flood insurance (which also includes the Department of Finance) took place on 7 March, and a further meeting is scheduled for June.

The subject of insurance against the risk of flooding is one of the issues being considered by the Inter-Departmental Committee which is developing whole-of-Government policies to support the OPW Flood Risk Management Plans. This Committee will be reporting to Government over the coming months.