Insurance companies that are failing to honour policies with victims of last winter’s severe flooding in Galway will be “named and shamed”.
Fianna Fáil Galway West TD Frank Fahey is threatening to “name and shame” the insurance companies who he is accusing of adopting a “penny pinching approach” and of “making inadequate responses” to flood victims.
“After four months a number of insurance companies have still not given a settlement figure to their customers to indicate how much they are willing to pay,” said Dep Fahey. “Some have refused to accept the very reasonable assessment by assessors on the compensation to be paid.”
The situation has even led to some people having to go to the Ombudsman to have their cases dealt with.
The Minister of State with responsibility for the Office Of Public Works, Martin Mansergh, has agreed to visit the Claregalway area after Easter to inspect the area and see how it is coping in the aftermath of the floods.
Dep Fahey has welcomed this but is “insisting” Dr Masergh provide residents with “timescales for action to be taken on a programme of flood relief for 2010 and in the longer term”.
Dep Fahey also critical of the OPW, accusing it of showing a “lack of urgency” in relation to the flooding risk along the Clare River. The announcement of funding flood relief minor works by the OPW failed to include funding for works on the river.
“I am extremely disappointed with the length of time it has taken the Office of Public Works to make progress on flooding mitigation measures in Claregalway and the Clare River catchment area,” he said. “The response has lacked the urgency which would have been expected in light of the devastation caused in the area.”
Dep Fahey said the promised hydrological survey of the Clare River has not yet begun and so he is now seeking “an immediate timescale for the completion of work on the survey”.
