Since mid-December, this State has been battered by a series of very devastating storms. The hardship, destruction and devastation have been outlined in a series of debates we have had in the House. I know the Tánaiste and various Ministers have visited those communities that have been affected. Thanks to the work of local authorities and local communities with the assistance of Government funding, many of those areas are now starting to get back on their feet. However, it will be a long journey for a lot of people. Some people may never get the opportunity to re-open their businesses because of the devastation that has been caused and the fact that they were unable to get insurance for previous incidents of flooding. Some areas are living in a constant state of readiness waiting for the next flooding event. My own city of Cork and County Cork, which the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, visited very quickly after the last bout of flooding, was devastated with the city centre suffering devastation to unprecedented levels.

At the time, we needed to deal with three issues. The first was the immediate assistance that needed to be provided to home owners and business owners, and that phase has now concluded or is at least very well advanced. The second related to business owners and home owners who were unable to get insurance. I know the Minister of State is working hard on that issue with the insurance companies trying to get a memorandum of understanding. The Tánaiste might give us an update on that. The third phase, which was outlined by the Government, was investing in flood defences in the longer term. At the time, the Tánaiste stated that about €250 million would be invested over the next five years. We all know that this will not be enough to meet the challenges facing the State. In Cork, it is estimated that about €100 million is needed to put flood defences in place.

My question relates to EU assistance. I know the EU solidarity fund is only available for assistance in the immediate aftermath of flooding and will not help with capital projects and that the bar has been set very high. It is estimated that the amount of flooding damage and devastation would have to be in the region of €700 million for us to be able to apply for that. On 20 February 2014, the Tánaiste said his Department and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform were in discussions with the European Commission about the possibility of getting EU assistance in terms of funding to help alleviate flooding. Could he give us an update on those discussions? Are they still ongoing or have they concluded? If so, what was the outcome? My second question concerns an update. The Minister of State might be able to inform the Tánaiste of the discussions with the insurance industry.

I agree with Deputy O'Brien that it is a devastating experience for families and households affected by the flooding. It is devastating for residential buildings and businesses and is something that will take a very long time to recover from. I also want to put on record my appreciation and that of the Government for all those who worked so hard to help people out in the immediate aftermath of the flooding. They include people in the utility companies, employees of local authorities, public servants and those involved in the voluntary effort that was contributed to by people at a local level. I saw this very recently when I visited Limerick and saw the impact of the flooding there and the work that people in the community did to help others out. I also want to put on record my tribute to the late Michael O'Riordan who lost his life helping people to get their electricity restored.

The Government's response to the flood crisis was, first, to make funding available for the immediate issues. That was done through the Minister for Social Protection. Second, we have provided €70 million to deal with the aftermath of the flooding, mainly in infrastructural works and so on. The local authorities are producing submissions and many of them have submitted them to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government who is considering them. The third dimension, which was mentioned by Deputy O'Brien, is the issue of flood defences.

Deputy O'Brien asked me two particular questions. The first is where we are going on the European front. We are still in discussions with the Commission in respect of what assistance can be provided from European funding for flood relief. I must say, however, that the threshold is very high and I do not believe it will make a significant contribution to the cost we must bear in dealing with the flood issue. However, the Minister of State has been in discussion with the European Investment Bank, particularly in respect of the flood defences issue, and is making considerable progress in that area. Deputy O'Brien also asked about the issue of insurance. Again, the Minister of State has been in discussion with the insurance companies and expects to be able to complete a memorandum of understanding with them within the next two months.

I thank the Tánaiste for his reply. I welcome the fact that within two months, we hope to conclude those discussions with the insurance industry. It will come as a relief if we can get a positive outcome for those businesses and home owners who, through no fault of their own, find themselves unable to get insurance. That would certainly be a very welcome development and I wish the Minister of State the best of luck with that.

Do the discussions with the European Investment Bank relate to flood relief assistance or are we looking at discussions in respect of getting capital funding to help with flood defences? The Tánaiste also mentioned that the threshold for getting assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund is set very high. In a reply to a recent parliamentary question, the Tánaiste said we would be looking at damage of up to around €700 million to qualify. I hope we would never see that level of devastation as a result of weather conditions. It is very unlikely we would ever qualify for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund because of the very high bar that has been set. Is it a commitment from this Government to try to have discussions on the possibility of changing the criteria to lower the bar in order that in the event of future flooding, this State would be able to get some assistance for immediate flood relief? Is that part of the ongoing discussions with the European Commission in which the Tánaiste is currently involved?

The discussions with the European Investment Bank relate to capital works so the funding would be mainly for flood defences. As the Deputy knows, the European Investment Bank is already assisting us with some of the capital programme, for example, some of the education and transport projects that are under way.

We are in discussions with the European Investment Bank to determine if we can make the capital works that are associated with flood defences amenable to EIB funding. The Deputy mentioned his assessment of how far the €250 million that we have committed to will go in terms of dealing with flood defences. We are conscious of that and, therefore, are considering ways in which the EIB can assist us. That is on the capital side.

The EU Solidarity Fund operates on the basis of a percentage of GDP. For this reason, we estimate that we would need to have suffered damage amounting to €700 million to qualify. The fund was established on a Europe-wide basis, but we are trying to determine whether it can be broken down on a regional basis. Weather impacts vary from region to region, in which case the threshold might be lower for those of us in this part of Europe. This is one of our discussions on the matter. As with any issue such as this, we are trying to determine how we can maximise draw-down from the EU programme. It seems that we would probably qualify for little, if anything, from the Solidarity Fund as it is currently constituted. Therefore, we are likely to bear the cost ourselves. However, we are in discussions on how the fund might be adjusted on a regional basis to enable us to qualify for funding.