Environment Committee resumes hearings on impact of flooding on communities

Representatives of the Irish National Flood Forum will address the Committee on the issue.

Cathaoirleach of the Committee Michael McCarthy TD said: “Tomorrow we will continue our hearings on the problems people are experiencing with flooding and other extreme weather events, in particular the difficulties people are having obtaining home insurance in areas hit by extreme weather.

This subject will form a key part of the Committee’s agenda in coming months and tomorrow we will hear from the Irish National Flood Forum on this very important issue for communities around the country. The Irish National Flood Forum has been set up to advise and support communities and individuals that have experienced flooding or are at risk of flooding and acts as a conduit between the organisations involved in flooding, such as the insurance industry, the HSE, Local Authorities, the OPW and the local community.

It is a chance for Committee Members to receive an update on the Forum’s work and get its views on the scale of this problem. We will also have an opportunity to consider the measures the Forum would like to see introduced to deal with, or help mitigate, the impact of extreme weather events in the first instance and, secondly, how it would see the various stakeholders working to ensure there is a way of providing adequate insurance cover for household, business and farming communities who are continually disadvantaged through non-cover or inflated insurance premiums as a result of extreme weather in their communities.”

Before the Committee meets with Irish National Flood Forum it will carry out scrutiny of EU legislative proposals:

COM(2011)690; Proposal for a Council decision on the accession of the European Union to the Protocol for the Protection of the Mediterranean Sea against pollution resulting from exploration and exploitation of the continental shelf and the seabed and its subsoil;

Com(2011)789; Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting greenhouse gas emissions and for reporting other information at national and Union level relevant to climate change;

COM(2012)118; Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on ship recycling;

COM(2012)120; Proposal for a Council decision requiring Member States to ratify or to accede to the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009, in the interests of the European Union;

COM(2012)236; Proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion of the Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety;

COM(2012)697 Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council derogating temporarily from Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community.

This meeting will start in Committee Room 4, Leinster House at 2.15pm tomorrow, Tuesday 12th March 2013.

Committee proceedings can be followed live at:
http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/watchlisten/

Media enquiries to:

Ciaran Brennan,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2

P: +3531 618 3903
M: 086-0496518
F: +3531 618 4551
Email: Ciaran.brennan@oireachtas.ie

Membership of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht

Deputies: James Bannon TD (Fine Gael); Paudie Coffey TD (Fine Gael); Noel Coonan (Fine Gael) Leas-Chathaoirleach; Marcella Corcoran Kennedy TD (Fine Gael); Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil); Luke Flanagan TD (Independent); Kevin Humphreys TD (Labour); Michael McCarthy TD (Labour) Cathaoirleach; Sandra McLellan TD (Sinn Féin); Tony Mc Loughlin TD (Fine Gael); Michelle Mulherin TD (Fine Gael); Catherine Murphy TD (Independent); Gerald Nash TD (Labour); Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD;  Brian Stanley TD (Sinn Féin).

Senators: Senator Cáit Keane (Fine Gael) Senator Denis Landy (Labour); An Seanadóir Fiach Mac Conghail (Neamhspleách); Senator Catherine Noone (Fine Gael); An Seanadóir Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fáil): Senator Ned O’Sullivan (Fianna Fáil).