Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said that the attitude of insurance companies to flood protection measures is “bordering on the ridiculous”.

Michael Noonan’s faced questions in the Dáil about the fact that hundreds of millions of euro of taxpayers’ money is to be spent on so-called “demountable” flood protection schemes.

The insurance industry is refusing to accept such schemes as sufficient and continues to deny cover, however.

Michael Noonan said that he does not understand it.

“In my view, the attitude of the insurance industry to the provision of insurance where demountable defences have been put in place is now bordering on the ridiculous, and it cannot be allowed to continue,” he said.

“Demountable defences are now an internationally accepted and established measure for providing flood protection.”