Insurance Coverage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-10
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

The problem is that we have been hearing the same thing for the past ten years regarding task forces, multi-agency groups and the rest. That is all fine. We have to do some of that work to get the results and ideas. However, the Minister of State talks about his plans delivering but ten years on, they have not delivered for these households. Thousands of houses and businesses across the State have no insurance and are at risk of flooding. That is the problem here. The Government does not have a concrete plan.
Last year, when we raised this issue, Fine Gael went away and met with the CEOs of insurance companies and told them they should improve the level of cover for areas with demountable flood defences. Let us park demountable flood defences, however, because only 4,500 people use them in the first instance. The vast majority, 250,000 people, do not use them. The reality is the insurance companies have not done anything on this issue. If private insurance companies are unwilling to provide insurance cover, the State needs to address that. Across the European Union, there is a recognition and acceptance that the State needs to step in where the sector fails. Is the Government going to deal with this issue and does it have a potential State-supported scheme on the table?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-10/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:36+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-10