One of the most distasteful stories of the week was the news that thousands of hard-pressed new homeowners may find it more difficult to secure flood protection on their policies in the aftermath of the recent deluge which put large swathes of the State under water.

It is increasingly difficult to get insurers to accept risk . . . the very business they are in. Large numbers of people have bought houses built following a full and fair planning process. They could reasonably assume that county planners would have taken issues such as whether the development site was appropriate given natural flood plains into account when making their rulings. Further, they have had their surveys done and secured insurance.

After all that, it seems disingenuous for the insurers to run for the hills at the first sign of trouble. What are the householders to do? Sell up? To whom? Most people moving into these new estates on the periphery of the capital are mortgaged up to the hilt. They cannot afford to take a loss on any sale and yet they will find it impossible to find people prepared to pay a premium for property that is uninsurable against the risk of flood.

I would be far more impressed if the insurers truly represented their customers and threatened action against local authorities which had not taken reasonable measures to ensure predictable perils were taken into account and/or addressed at the planning and development stages.