Mr. Neil McDonnell:

I thank the Chairman for his invitation to address the committee. Our cost of insurance continues to rise. ISME's latest cost of insurance survey results for quarter 4 of 2018 are shown in the first appendix to our paper. The results show that 81% of members report increased public liability insurance. Recent statements about moderating insurance costs refer to private motor insurance only. No one has reliable statistics on liability or other commercial insurances as the CSO does not measure them. The continued rise in insurance costs is the outcome of a failure to make meaningful change in three areas: reducing quantum, to which there is no constitutional impediment; reforming our legal system; and reforming the insurance system itself. The issue goes far beyond the simple cost of insurance to SMEs, although this issue is already causing many businesses to fail. The issue of the cost of insurance is now hollowing out Irish society, restricting the conduct of sport, play and charitable activity, attracting criminal activity and encouraging the advancement of manufactured grievances. It is harming the physical and moral health of citizens. We are getting to the point where suing someone for the most minor of inconveniences is now socially acceptable across all educational and class strata.

While there has been a large amount of activity by the cost of insurance working group, it has not addressed the core issues, which we address in our presentation. The cost of insurance working group has committed the cardinal sin of confusing performance, by which we mean doing lots of things, with effectiveness, which is doing the right things. What we are left with is a veneer of progress and the complete absence of material reform. What we need is quantum to be reduced; the legal profession to engage honestly with a reform process; moral hazard for plaintiffs in our courts; a perjury statute and an amended Defamation Act; a just, answerable Judiciary committed to continuous professional development; meaningful action on the detection and punishment of fraudulent claims; and transparent, granular data on a well-regulated insurance industry.

While it would be easy in these circumstances to call for the head of the responsible Minister of State, we believe this would achieve nothing other than political theatre. We need a Cabinet Minister to take over the lead on this issue personally, and the nature of the reforms required suggests that this should be the Minister for Justice and Equality. We appreciate that the committee has pressing issues such as Brexit and housing to attend to but we have suffered a lost decade on this issue. People are losing their jobs and businesses now because of legislative inaction. Members alone are the people who can fix this, and we ask them to do so now.

I am accompanied by our former chair, who will be able to give the committee real-world examples and figures brought to his attention by members.