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Professor Peter Lynch, Professor of Meteorology at University College Dublin predicted that the same “basis physics” relating to the planet’s water cycle will also see Ireland suffer storms of greater intensity with sudden and increased rainfall.

See Central Bank comment on retentions below and it would appear that those insurers applying arbitrary retentions will now be under pressure to amend their policy wordings to explain the procedure and how it will apply to claims.Unfortunately the legitimacy or otherwise of the procedure has not been addressed at this point.

Under the Central Bank (Supervision and Enforcement) Act, the Financial Services Ombudsman (FSO) has been given new powers to identify banks, insurance companies and investment companies that have at least three complaints upheld against them.

The main change in the 2006 Regulations is the inclusion of domestic homeowners in the definition of “client”. There are therefore now two types of clients.

Ombudsman listened to recordings of conversations between Policyholder and her Insurer and concluded damage had occurred in early December.

In conclusion it is my view that the Ombudsman and indeed Courts in this Country would take a similar view and as long as a Policyholder has taken reasonable steps to look after and maintain their property and has not “abandoned” it then Insurers will have difficulty avoiding liability.