50,000 without f lood insurance

Dilemma of householders in ‘at risk’ areas

AN estimated 50,000 homes are without flood insurance in Ireland.

A member survey carried out by the Irish Brokers Association showed that up to 50,000 homeowners are without flooding insurance.

Separately, Insurance Ireland has said that 98% of homeowners can obtain flood insurance.

Working of the most recent official figures showing that there are 1.6million households in Ireland, that would translate into a net figure of 32,000 homes without flood cover.

Insurance Ireland has said it was the job of the Government, not insurance companies, to protect homes against flooding by installing flood protection mechanisms.

However many of the estimated 50,000 are living in areas that already have flood barriers in place.

These include Clonmel, Fermoy and Mallow which no longer experience flooding. But many people in these areas, even those directly behind the flood barrier, still can’t insure their homes and businesses.

Paul Kavanagh of the Irish Brokers Association said: ‘There are some people in Fermoy, Mallow and Clonmel who have flood insurance, but that’s because they’ve always had flood insurance.

‘They’re people that are away from the river, they live up on the hill: they’re not the people beside the river.’

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is expected to press insurance companies over the matter of uninsured households

in flood-prone areas in a crunch meeting next Tuesday. Fianna Fáil has published a Bill that would require insurance companies to provide flood cover to houses and businesses in areas where the OPW have finished flood relief schemes.

The party’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath said: ‘In essence, the Bill provides that where the OPW has completed a flood-relief scheme to the required European standard (resulting in the flood risk being reduced to a one in a 100 year event) or where the flooding risk has been deemed to be extremely low by the OPW, an insurance company must offer insurance at a price that can be reasonably justified by the current risk profile.

‘Insurance Ireland would say in areas where flood schemes have been completed, they would argue that 86% of the properties have cover.

‘But the evidence from brokers in those areas is very different, so that’s really the rationale behind the Bill.’

Around 250 houses were flooded during the latest heavy rainfall.

Flood-hit areas of the country are in for respite after forecasters predicted the rain will ease off over the next week. Conditions won’t be ideal however, as the weather will remain cold over the next few days.

Showers of sleet and snow will fall in some areas in Munster and Leinster by dawn, and will move into other areas as the morning progresses.

Top temperatures will range from 3C to 8C today while Sunday and Monday will be mostly cold and dry.

250 houses affected in latest storms