Minister’s actions questioned on flood insurance cover for Cork businesses and residents impacted by Storm Babet

WHAT are you doing Minister?’

That was the pointed question asked by Midleton Fianna Fáil councillor Ann Marie Ahern at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council, when discussing correspondence from the Government minister responsible for the insurance industry regarding the issue of flood cover for the many residents and businesses in Midleton impacted by Storm Babet flooding last October.

In her letter Minister of State Jennifer Carroll McNeill said she had met with the chief executive officers of a number of insurance companies and the issue of flood insurance had been ‘a prominent agenda item’ at these meetings.

The Minister’s letter was the latest in a sequence of correspondence which began at the council meeting immediately following Storm Babet, with a motion from Cllr Ahern calling on the minister to clarify what she and her department would be doing in respect of the issue of the denial of flooding insurance to people in Midleton.

“During these engagements, I highlighted the effectiveness of flood defences generally and, in particular, in areas such as Bandon, Fermoy, Mallow and Clonakilty, and stressed a number of important expectations for the insurance industry, including the need for insurers to deal with affected policy holders fairly and in accordance with the Central Bank of Ireland Consumer Protection Code; and the need to provide cover where properties are in areas protected by flood defences,” said Ms Carroll-MacNeill.

The Minister said that an insurance industry flood task force had been established in November ‘to map out a future strategy’.

According to Cllr Ahern, while the minister’s response to the council’s letter had highlighted a number of agencies such as the Office of Public Works and the insurance companies and others, it failed to mention what the minister herself was doing.

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The Minister was challenged ‘to commit pen to paper to tell us what she outlined’ in terms of her discussions with the insurance company representatives.

“Is she willing to step up to the mark and indemnify the homes, businesses and communities in east Cork that are now lacking insurance?,” said Cllr Ahern.

After some discussion, councillors agreed to write again to Minister Carroll-MacNeill to seek clarification of her discussions with insurance companies.