Mr. Ivan Cooper:

I can give an example from the community and charity sector. Charities require public and employer's liability insurance. There are almost 10,000 such organisations in Ireland, with more than 140,000 people employed. The Wheel is a social enterprise which provides much needed transport services for people with disabilities. Its insurance premium doubled from €65,000 to €130,000. Because of the increased costs, the organisation has had to cut services and reduce its workforce. It is paying more for insurance cover than for petrol. It has had a big impact on services. From the perspective of charitable organisations that have to raise funds to pay additional insurance costs, it is a big challenge to fundraise for services without being lumped with this additional overhead. Organisations in the voluntary healthcare sector have been taken into the State's insurance programmes because they are unable to pay the premiums they are attracting.