Politicians and insurers trade barbs over floods

Rumblings of insurance companies playing hardball with householders and businesses affected by the recent floods are beginning to emerge just a few short weeks after the event.

Earlier this week, Cork City Council was told large tracts of Cork City were now “uninsurable” due to flooding in recent years.

In a number of areas, local representatives said residents and businesses were starting to run into problems with insurers, with some insurance companies saying the people in question will not be covered into the future.

Cllr Kenneth O’Flynn, who said parts of the city were becoming uninsurable, said insurers had been “taken for a fortune” due to flooding in recent years so it was no surprise they were managing their risk.

However, he said it was up to the city council to abate the fears of the insurance companies by making sure the city had the most advanced flood protection systems available in place.

Last week, Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer said he had evidence some insurance firms were dragging their heels when it came to dealing with claims from householders and business owners whose premises were destroyed in last week’s flood.

The Cork South Central TD also said there were indications some firms would hike premiums in these areas, or refuse to provide flood cover at all in future.

In response, Mr Buttimer received a strongly worded email from Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) chief executive Michael Kemp hitting out at the “serious allegations” Mr Buttimer had made against the industry.

“As far as we are concerned, our member companies act in good faith at all times and make special efforts to deal both fairly and promptly with a significantly increased workload in the wake of natural disasters/weather events which give rise to claims such as the recent and previous flood incidents,” wrote Mr Kemp. “If you have evidence that the standard of service has been lacking in specific cases, this should of course be drawn to the attention of the individual insurer concerned.”

The IIF’s Michael Horan disputed Mr Buttimer’s claims that insurers were dragging their heels or playing hardball with those affected by the flood.

“I wouldn’t agree with the view taken by Deputy Buttimer. Our members are working very hard to handle claims as quickly as possible. They are also happy to hand out interim payments. They are dealing with a large volume of claims but have dealt with extreme weather events a number of times in the past number of years so there are well rehearsed procedures for dealing with these occurrences.”

Mr Horan also insisted the IIF had not been receiving complaints from those affected by the floods.

Yesterday, Mr Buttimer said he stood over his criticism of certain insurers and their treatment of individuals in flood-hit areas.

“The industry’s bona fides in this matter can only be judged by their actions on the ground and on their treatment of individuals. I would encourage anyone who feels they have been or are being treated unfairly by their insurers to contact me and I will work with them.”