When the Tolka River burst its banks last November, repairing the damage to their homes was just the start of residents' nightmares.

Since then, residents have been in almost constant contact with insurance companies, according to Mr Michael O'Neill, chairman of the Tolka River Residents' Association, and the experience has not been a happy one.

"Some people have been refused cover, some people have had a €5,000 or €6,000 excess imposed on them and some people have had their premiums doubled," Mr O'Neill says.

Insurers say that insurance can only be sold on the basis of what is possible, not inevitable. If it is certain that particular areas are going to flood, they become uninsurable.

However, for some Tolka River residents, the principle seems more akin to "one claim and you're on your own".

Mr O'Neill is concerned that some residents have been refused cover after just one incident - the worst flood on the river on record - especially as flood defence measures are currently being put in place between the Botannical Road and Drumcondra Road. Independent consultant engineers have said these measures will prevent further flooding.

"A huge amount of work has been done, so somebody is making a lot of profit here," he says.

"People who have paid their premium year after year for 40 years and never made a claim are now being told that their premiums are being doubled," he adds.

"Where work is being done, why are people being told they can't get cover?"

In Britain, the government has secured a moratorium from insurers: the majority of homeowners in flood-prone lands will not be penalised with higher premiums or cover refusals if planned flood defences are built before 2007.

This moratorium will be reviewed annually by the British insurance industry.

What Mr O'Neill wants to know is why the same can't happen here.

The association, which has more than 400 members, has written to the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works (OPW), Mr Tom Parlon.

It also invited Mr Michael Kemp, chief executive of the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF), to a recent residents meeting.

Mr Kemp declined on the basis that it was inappropriate because the IIF was in the middle of talks with the Government on the issue.

"We've got the Government on one hand and big business on the other. We're very much piggy in the middle," says Mr O'Neill.

"There's a huge amount of concern amongst the residents, especially among elderly people and people with large mortgages. Summer is coming and going," he says.

"We're heading into the autumn and residents need to know where they stand."

A spokesman for the IIF, Mr Martin Long, says that refusals to cover residents in the Tolka River area are commercial policy decisions taken by individual insurers as a result of the market hammering inflicted by an unprecedented number of severe weather events during the past five years.

In total, 1,358 claims were lodged after the November 2002 floods, including 1,171 household claims costing the insurance industry €39 million.

Mr Long says it was as a result of pressure from the IIF that the Government initiated its first review of flood defences.

"The insurance industry cannot do everything," according to Mr Long.

The OPW's report is expected to be published later this summer.

If the Government makes certain policy commitments and circumstances change for the better, this will be reflected in lower home insurance premiums, he adds.