Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2017
149. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the OPW has reached agreement with the insurance industry regarding the use of demountable flood defences; if the insurance industry has given assurance that flood cover will be reinstated once a flood defence scheme involving demountable defences has been completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53771/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Minister for Finance has overall responsibility for the Government’s flood insurance policy. To assist insurance companies to take into account the protection provided by completed OPW flood defence schemes, the OPW has a Memorandum of Understanding with Insurance Ireland, the representative body of the insurance industry. This Memorandum sets out principles of how the two organisations work together to ensure that appropriate and relevant information on these completed schemes is provided to insurers to facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, the availability to the public of insurance against the risk of flooding. Insurance Ireland members have committed to take into account all information provided by OPW when assessing exposure to flood risk within these protected areas. To date OPW has provided details to Insurance Ireland on 18 completed schemes nationally and Insurance Ireland surveys its members to ascertain the extent to which flood insurance cover is available in these areas.
The insurance industry has recently confirmed that it accepts that flood defence schemes that utilise demountable defences provide protection against 1 in 100 year flood events. The insurance industry however do have concerns in relation to the human element in the deployment of these demountable defences, specifically in relation to any liability for flooding arising due to the incorrect or late installation of the defences. A separate working group including members of Insurance Ireland the Department of Finance and the OPW are discussing how best to address these concerns. This group last met on November 13th and is scheduled to meet again in January.
These meetings are in addition to the regular quarterly meetings where the OPW and the Department of Finance engage with Insurance Ireland in respect of the Memorandum of Understanding. The most recent of these meetings took place on December 8th 2017 with the next meeting scheduled for March 2018. I am satisfied that my officials, along with officials from the Department of Finance, will continue to work with the insurance industry to progress this issue.
The decision on whether to offer insurance, the levels of premiums charged and the policy terms applied are matters for individual insurers. Insurance companies make commercial decisions on the provision of insurance cover based on their assessment of the risks they would be accepting on a case-by-case basis.
Any person with an insurance-related query or complaint can contact Insurance Ireland's Insurance Information Service (01 676 1914 or iis@insuranceireland.eu). In addition, the Financial Services Ombudsman (1890 88 20 90) deals independently with unresolved complaints from consumers about their individual dealings with all financial service providers.
