By Declan Tierney
THE mention of Turloughmore on an application form for home insurance cover is sending insurance companies diving for cover as they associate the area with flooding.
Applicants from Turloughmore who applied to a popular online insurance company have been told that they will not be covered for flooding because of where they live.
And the Office of the Insurance Regulator has been described as ” a waste of time and public money” for allowing insurance to pick and choose who they will or will not insure.
There is outrage in the village and surrounding areas that they have been branded a flood plain despite the fact that Turloughmore was not badly affected by the November 2009 deluge.
It has been revealed that the purchaser of a new house in the area applied to an insurance company for a quotation and was told that they wouldn’t be covered for flooding.. simply because they had a Turloughmore address. It seems that Turloughmore is literally a ‘flashpoint’ when it comes to insurance companies providing cover for houses following the flooding that occurred in the general area two years ago.
Several houses were destroyed by flooding in the Abbeyknockmoy, Carnmore, Cregmore and Claregalway areas during the prolonged downpours in 2009 – some families have still not returned to their homes since then.
A number of on-line insurance companies have ‘black-listed’ houses in Turloughmore by not providing flood cover and this has been described as unacceptable.
Galway West TD Noel Grealish said that there was no point in having an Insurance Regulator when this sort of discrimination is going on.
“Flooding was not a problem in Turloughmore, apart from a few tiny pockets, but it is obvious that it is being tarred with the same brush as other neighouring areas where there was extensive flooding and houses destroyed. “Having an Insurance Regulator’s office in this country is a pure waste of time and public money. They are a toothless body and one that has no control or influence whatsoever on what insurance companies get up to”, Deputy Grealish said.
A couple buying a house in Laraghmore applied on-line for insurance cover mentioned Turloughmore in the address of the property. While they could get insurance cover, it did not cover the applications in the event of flood damage.
But when they were informed that the address of the property is actually Laraghmore, Ballyglunin, they again applied had no difficulty in getting insurance with flood cover attached.
