Homeowner unable to get flood cover says ‘40-year history of the area seems to have been ignored’

But last year when he went to renew his policy he was told that it was no longer possible to include flood cover. This is hindering his plans to sell the house.

Mr Quinn and his partner Angharad, who was born in Wales, are parents to a six-month-old baby girl.

“I have spoken to some neighbours and I understand they have never experienced a flood and there has never been any flooding in the surrounding area in the vicinity of the estate or any insurance flood claims made by any residents.

“They have all also been unable to get flood cover insurance,” he said.

When he contacted FBD Insurance and other insurance companies they told him their “flood mapping data indicated that the property is located in an area that is at high risk of flood or subsidence”.

But Mr Quinn, a journalist, has looked in depth into the matter and insists that based on the documentation and mapping he has seen from leading organisations and experts, “I do not believe this is true”.

“The Office of Public Works is the lead organisation for flood-risk management in Ireland and on their maps my estate is not deemed to be in a flood zone.”

On the official maps he has examined the entire estate does not fall within an indicative, fluvial or groundwater flood zone. He said this indicates there is not even a one-in-100-year likelihood of a flooding event.

Mr Quinn said there were also independent assessments and reports carried out by IE Consulting – a water, environmental and civil-engineering consultancy – which shows the house is outside a flood zone and not in a flood-risk area.

“It should be a fairly reasonable expectation to insure a person’s home, and myself and the residents are quite rightly annoyed and deeply concerned by this situation.”

As well as being unable to fully insure his home, Mr Quinn has been told by an estate agent that the insurance issue will devalue homes in the estate.

He has contacted the English company which he said was providing the flood-risk mapping data, to be told that it bought the information from a third party.

He said a new house is being built just metres from his home, with Roscommon County Council granting planning permission for the development as it did not perceive there to be any flood risk.

“Myself and my partner recently welcomed a baby daughter into the world, and we would like to sell my house and buy another home in the countryside, but this situation has made it extremely difficult for us to sell our home,” he said.

He is determined to fight the insurance companies as he feels they are being too quick and wrong to refuse full insurance cover for his home.

He added: “It seems like an extraordinary situation that OPW mapping and the last 40-year history of the area seems to have been ignored.”

  

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