At a recent residents' association meeting in my constituency in Sandymount, it was reported to me that only one flood insurance provider is left providing coverage in the community. This week research from the University of Galway was reported in The Irish Times showing that storm surges during Storm Éowyn were the "highest ever recorded" and would have been twice as high had the storm landed a week earlier during a particularly high tide. Earlier this month the EPA's national climate change risk assessment also noted a "significant risk" of coastal flooding in Dublin. I note with surprise that there is no reference to flood insurance in the programme for Government. Does the Government have a policy for engaging with insurance providers on this issue? What is the Government's policy on addressing gaps in the flood insurance market, particularly in coastal communities like Sandymount, Merrion, Ringsend and Irishtown? Will the Government consider State-backed flood insurance and reinsurance schemes to protect livelihoods and homes in these areas?

There is a commitment in the programme for Government to draw up a new action plan on insurance. We did a lot of good work in the previous government in respect of insurance. Insurance companies have to come to the table as well and respond to the reforms that have occurred, which industry and others sought, in terms of awards and all of that. More crucially, in terms of flood areas, there are issues without question. The State has to be cautious in the sense that the insurance industry has to play its role. Where flood relief schemes come in and are provided for by way of significant infrastructural investment, there is an onus and obligation on insurance companies to then insure again. The State, through compensation schemes, will do everything it can to underpin people who are impacted negatively and destructively by storms and flooding events but, fundamentally, we need a State agreement with the insurance industry. Primarily, where we do invest and create new infrastructure to prevent flooding, those houses or business should then be able to get flood insurance. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, is dealing with this. I will alert him to Deputy Hayes's interest in the subject.