I call Deputy Fitzmaurice. We have a pretty good record on time to this point.

We have read over the past week that insurance companies in Ireland made €159 million in profits in 2021. In 2018, the figure was €130 million. There has been a substantial increase. It is not that I am against companies making profit. In fairness, the Government brought in changes to help in respect of the insurance debacle relating to this country. It is alarming when one gets an email that the insurance companies seem to be picking and choosing and doing their own thing. I received an email from a young person who was approved for a mortgage and who did the right thing at a time when 20% of people missed having smear tests. The person in question went and had a smear test. Irregularities were found but everything was sorted. She was approved for a mortgage but the insurance company has informed here that she cannot get health insurance or mortgage protection. This person, who did not want a social house and who had obtained mortgage approval and was doing her own thing, is being held back.

An estate in Ballaghaderreen that was built 40 years ago has never had a problem with water, flooding or anything else. I checked with Roscommon County Council and there was never a problem. The council could see nothing in any way that could affect the estate. I checked the Office of Public Works's one-in-100-year and one-in-1,000-year maps. Lo and behold, an insurance company decided randomly to get a Dutch company to look at the estate to which I refer. People will probably find out that it also looked at other estates throughout the country. Some genius, as part of a desktop exercise, decided that there may be a risk of flooding down the line and the residents of the estate can no longer get insurance.

While I recognise some of what has been done by the Government over the past number of years in respect of insurance, what more can we do to try to put manners on the insurance companies in the context of some of the things they are doing? Can the Tánaiste talk to the Central Bank about this matter? What these companies say is that unless everything is 100%, they will not insure people. That is not what insurance is for. If you crash your car, you draw your insurance. The premium might go up a small bit, but you still get insurance. A person who did the right thing in the context of her health and who obtained mortgage approval will not now be able to draw down the mortgage because of the rules being implemented by her insurance company. What can the Government do to help the people to whom I refer, as well as those who are affected by insurance companies just pulling something out of a hat? There is no way of disproving what they are saying to the effect that there may be a flood risk somewhere down the line. What can the Government do in respect of this matter?

Like the Deputy, I understand that insurance companies have to make a profit. If they do not make a profit, they cannot operate or function. If the latter were the case, there would not be any insurance companies or insurance policies and there would certainly be no competition. Obviously, they should be making reasonable rather than excessive profits.

It is encouraging to have seen motor insurance come down a lot in recent years. I am not happy that house insurance is still going up. We had expected that when price walking ended, the loyalty penalty would be removed and prices would fall. In general, prices have not fallen. Despite the considerable efforts we have made around employer liability and public liability, premiums are pretty flat. I want to see them fall.

In terms of the reforms that are under way, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, is bringing in new legislation in respect of duty of care in order to rebalance the responsibility when it comes to entering a premises. This will mean that people have a little more responsibility not to injure themselves or get injured. That legislation should be done in the next few months. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Calleary, is bringing through the Personal Injuries Resolution Board Bill 2022, which will allow more cases to be settled before the board and to discourage people from going to court in certain circumstances. We think that will help to bring down premiums.

I chair the Government group on insurance. We have good engagement with the insurance industry - the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Fleming, is engaged in that as well - and with the Central Bank, which is the regulator.

Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned one or two specific examples of somebody who, I think, is a cancer survivor-----

She did not have cancer.

-----and somebody who has an issue with flooding. If they are willing to share that detail with us - it would be with the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming - we can take the matter up with the regulator and the industry and see what they have to say.

I thank the Tánaiste. The Tánaiste comes from the health sector. The person to whom I refer did not have cancer. Irregularities were found. Everything was cleared up, but there is now that little doubt. It is difficult to hear someone say that she wished she had not gone for the smear test before she went for her mortgage because now she is in trouble for what she did. We are encouraging women to make sure that they go for these tests. With this person, everything is sorted but, because there was an irregularity, she is not able to get home protection and cannot draw down her mortgage. I welcome what the Tánaiste said, and I will give him the details of the case.

There is also the other aspect I am seeing in the context of housing estates. I gave one example of houses that were built 40 years ago. No Government body, be it the local authority or the Office of Public Works, has ever red-flagged the estate in question as being one where there could be trouble. However, an insurance company has decided overnight that it cannot insure the residents' houses in respect of flooding. That is a damnable situation for those who have not had any problem whatsoever for 40 years.

An irregular smear test should not be grounds for refusing insurance. Insurers must price in risk.

If somebody is very ill or terminally ill they do have to take it into account. An irregular smear test does not fit into that category, or certainly does not in my mind. I am genuinely interested and if the Deputy could pass on the information, with the permission of that person, we will take it up with the industry and see what we can do.