Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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181. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons who were underpaid insurance compensation after Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma; the amount by which they were underpaid; if he will be publish the report by his Department on the practices of insurance companies in the aftermath of extreme weather events; if legislation is ready to prohibit such actions by insurance companies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4415/19]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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182. To ask the Minister for Finance if the Central Bank and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board have been formally requested to report on the practice of insurance companies offering cash offers for less than the amount for which property was insured in the aftermath of extreme weather events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4416/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 181 and 182 together.

I understand that the Deputy’s queries arise from comments made in the media recently by the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Michael D’Arcy TD. At the outset, it is important to note that my Department does not collect the type of information being sought by the Deputy and therefore I am not in a position to answer any specific questions regarding insurance compensation after Storm Ophelia and Storm Emma.

Notwithstanding this, I understand that the Minister of State requested Department officials to carry out an analysis with regard to how insurance claims were managed in the wake of Storms Ophelia and Emma last year. This arose on foot of negative feedback the Minister of State had received personally from policyholders of delays in claims processing in relation to the storms.

As part of this review, the Minister of State and Department officials met directly with a number of the largest insurance companies operating in the State to discuss their individual responses as well as to seek information with regard to how the claims process was handled since the storms, highlighting the issues that the Minister of State had received feedback on. Meetings also took place with representatives of loss assessors and a number of insurance brokers from an area which was heavily impacted by Storm Emma. A summary was prepared following these meetings outlining an analysis of some of the points raised during the meetings. This was presented to the Minister of State for his consideration and in response he has asked that his concerns be further examined by members of the CIWG over the coming weeks.

Finally you should note that there are no proposals at present to introduce legislation on the points raised in the question.