I thank the Taoiseach and we move now to Deputy Cathal Crowe.

The double standards. The accountability is something else to behold.

Deputy Mac Lochlainn has a question coming up.

The Ceann Comhairle might stop the clock until the Sinn Féin Members stop rambling on there.

Deputy, continue.

The Deputy is fairly capable of it himself. He was one of the leaders of heckling in the previous Dáil, but go ahead.

I wish to raise the issue of homes and businesses in County Clare, though it is also a national issue, who cannot get flood cover on the insurance policy. Those that can pay a huge amount for it. The industry tells us it is all about the principle of risk equalisation. One house gets flooded so all must pay. That is fundamentally wrong. There has been a lot of remedial work undertaken in the lower Shannon and elsewhere in this country to ensure flooding does not occur but the industry continues to penalise homeowners and business owners. It will require intervention from the Government and the Central Bank. I do not have trust in Insurance Ireland to do something on this because this has repeatedly been raised with it. In County Clare, I estimate between 3,000 and 4,000 homeowners in Ennis, Shannon, Sixmilebridge and Shannon Banks cannot get flood cover. It is worse than that though because when someone tries to sell one of these properties, conveyancing invariably happens and people are advised not to buy or give a mortgage for the property. Therefore, the sale of properties collapses far too often. It will require Government intervention.

I thank the Deputy for again very strongly and correctly highlighting an issue that is of huge concern to homeowners in the areas he has mentioned and which he represents. There is a big issue here, particularly where flood relief schemes have been introduced and where remedial measures have happened because of Government intervention and investment. Over the past number of years, we have been involved in significant insurance reform in respect of issues that were raised with us by the industry. I am not so sure we have got the reciprocal response, given the reforms that we have carried out. The industry needs to do more to respond to the initiatives that Government has taken. The insurance industry is part of society. It needs to respond more adequately to the issues raised by the Deputy. There is an insurance subcommittee of Cabinet at which I will raise this issue in terms of how we and the Minister of State at the Department of Finance engage with the industry on the very specific topic raised.