John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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201. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that insurance companies are using the OPW website and the flood report on the site to refuse flood insurance at a location (details supplied) and are ignoring the note that the information is not for commercial use; if confirmation will be provided on the website that the estate has not been subject to flooding since its construction 25 years ago; his views on the fact that property owners living in the estate are unable to sell their property due to the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6393/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will acknowledge that the Office of Public Works has no responsibility for oversight or regulation of the insurance industry in relation to flood risk insurance, or to insurance matters generally including where flood insurance may impact on property sales.

The Government’s strategy is that in return to its investment on flood defence schemes in the most at risk communities, households and businesses should be able to access flood insurance.

The Office of Public Works has a very specific role in the exchange of information with the insurance industry in relation to completed flood defence schemes, to an agreed standard of protection desired by the industry. A Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, agreed on 24 March 2014, between the Office of Public Works and Insurance Ireland, the representative body for the insurance companies in Ireland has a specific focus on agreeing the basis on which information can be provided to the insurance industry on areas defended by flood relief schemes completed by the OPW.

Under the MOU, the OPW requirement is that insurers who are party to the agreement take full account of information provided by the OPW on completed flood defence schemes, when assessing exposure to flood risk. The MOU does not guarantee the availability of flood risk cover in the locations for which information has been provided by the OPW. The MOU recognises that the provision of insurance cover, the level of premiums charged and the policy terms applied are a matter for individual insurers based on the risk they are willing to take on a case by case basis.

The flood maps developed by the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management, CFRAM, Programme are community based maps on the future risk of flooding in an area, for the purpose of developing community based flood risk management measures. They are not developed based on historic flooding information alone, or to designate individual properties at risk from flooding and cannot be relied upon for commercial purposes. This has been outlined to the Insurance Industry that has informed the OPW that it relies upon its own flood models to make its commercial decisions.

The OPW has published information available to it in relation to past flood events and this is currently accessible, where available and applicable, through individual flood maps on floodinfo.ie. The presence of this information in any given area is indicative of a risk of flooding but individual properties may not have flooded in the past or may not be at risk of future flooding due to local conditions e.g. elevated floor levels, the use of individual property protection measures or for other reasons.

Any person with an insurance-related query or complaint can contact Insurance Ireland's Insurance Information Service 01 676 1914 or feedback@insuranceireland.eu. In addition, the Financial Services Ombudsman, 01 567 7000 or info@fspo.ie, deals independently with unresolved complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all financial service providers.