Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 24 May 2018
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach
Insurance Costs for Community Groups: Discussion
10:00 am
Mr. Tom Ryan:
Typically, what happens is that if a club is unfortunate enough to suffer an adverse event and it takes some years for that claim to materialise, it will be in a weakened position in respect of being able to defend itself. It is purely because the clubs are run on a voluntary basis. People get involved in GAA clubs because they are interested in hurling and football and not because they are insurance professionals. The elapsed time is our difficulty with respect to PIAB.
Deputy Grealish also asked about Irish Public Bodies Insurance. It did, in fairness, engage with us at the point of our insurance renewal. We did have discussions but we did not pursue that course. There was also a question on health and safety officers and insurance officers in counties and in clubs. We have a designated insurance officer - or we have a position of an insurance officer - in every county. I cannot attest 100% that all of those positions have been filled. It is difficult to get people to fill voluntary positions and that is one of the direct manifestations of the difficulties that the other organisations here have mentioned. The burdens of time and responsibility pose a challenge for the GAA as much as any other organisation. However, we do have that position.
There will also typically be a health and safety person in a club. However, again, it is voluntary, it is subject to the constraints on people's time and it is not the core activity in the club. Deputy Grealish mentioned the concept of an audit of properties. This is something in which we are trying to engage in partnership with our insurers. We are in the throes of going from club to club, recording all the particulars of the particular property. This was mentioned in the context of the men's sheds. GAA clubs are the same. They can vary hugely. In some cases it will just be a pitch; in other cases it will be a significant leisure complex and so on. That exercise is ongoing.
Was there another specific question?
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