Industry calls for greater state role in flood cover
The industry has come in for strong criticism from homeowners and businesses in areas such as Cork city, Bandon and Ballinasloe which suffered up to nine feet of flooding last November. They say businesses seeking to renew policies are being refused cover in high-risk areas while others are facing a doubling in premiums or being forced to agree to paying large excesses if flooded again.
Irish Insurance Federation chief executive Michael Kemp said all policy renewals are judged individually and action by the local authorities and the Office of Public Works (OPW) to reduce risk are taken into account.
“There will be areas that are uninsurable unless major work is carried out by the authorities. We are being blamed for not insuring people or increasing premiums but the local authorities need to pull their weight too and the planners. There are many rivers in this country that have not been dredged as they should have been and houses built in unsuitable locations. We also have huge areas of ground being concreted over and subsequently there is no drainage against storm waters,” he said. “However, if these catastrophic events are to become more frequent, we may be heading towards a situation where we have state involvement in catastrophic cover as risk will be too high. I don’t want to pre-empt the review but this might be where we are heading”.
He also criticised the new statutory planning guidelines as not being tough enough. “The guidelines suggest that planning could be allowed in areas prone to one-in-50-year flooding. In Scotland, they don’t allow planning in areas prone to one-in-200-year flooding.”
A spokesman for Minister for the Environment, John Gormley said the guidelines call for flood risk areas not to be built upon unless there are “demonstrable, wider sustainable grounds” that justify the development. He has said he “more than satisfied” that they address flood risk.
Earlier this month, Ireland South MEP, Seán Kelly secured a commitment from EU Internal Market Commissioner, Michael Barnier that a review of this section of the European insurance market will take place.
“The insurance market has failed the people of Cork city, Clonmel, Skibbereen and Bandon. It is not acceptable that insurance costs rise six-fold overnight and that people must live in constant fear of their livelihoods,” the Fine Gael MEP said.
“This isn’t just an Irish issue. It is a huge issue in France too but they have gone so far as to knock houses in recent months that are on flood plains. They are re-housing people away from risk,” he said. Seán Kelly once again called upon the Department of the Environment to fully implement the EU Flooding Directive which states that all rivers at risk of flooding must be identified and remedial measures adopted to reduce risk.
