Ms Linda Murray:

That is it. There are no other play centres in the town.

I prefer to have parties for my children outside the house. I do not really want people in or to be cleaning up after everyone following a long day. People who live in apartments need somewhere to go. On rainy days, children need somewhere to play. We have had people coming in with their children. We have a very comfortable breast-feeding environment where women can come with their babies. We see those women holding fifth or sixth birthday parties for them five or six years later. This will not be possible anymore. There is no trick up my sleeve. I have 25 days left and that will be it. I have tried everything. I have worked on nothing but insurance since the beginning of January, or a few months before that. I cannot get a quote.

When I outline the figures, such as €5 million in premiums and €1 million in claims, including all the reserves, I wonder why an Irish insurer does not examine this. Why can we not get insurance on this island? Why do we even have to go across the water, where we are told we are lucky to get insurance? Why can we not get it here? That we cannot beggars belief. It is trickling into other industries. When I was bringing my two children to gymnastics a couple of weeks ago, the organiser said to me he will need to get €10 from me for each of them for insurance. I asked whether it was not included in the membership fee and he said this is the first year in which insurance money has to be collected and that his business is down to its last insurer. He said the business now has to charge everyone coming in for insurance. If this is occurring in gymnastics organisations, what about other organisations? Soccer clubs are ringing me asking whether they can join in with me. What kind of society are we showing our children if we cannot even send them out to play a bit of hurling or football or do gymnastics without worrying whether the organisers will go out of business because of insurance costs?