Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will respect the time constraints and keep my contribution as short as possible. I watched Ms Murray's contribution in my office while I was doing other work and it was very sad because she was a person who was full of enthusiasm and had built up a business.

The emotion struck me. All we can do is tell people to keep going and not to let others put them down. It is important to say that because people become frustrated and opt out of business. It has happened in my own area.

Mr. Boland spoke about the slow pace of reform. When I first came into the Dáil following my election in 2016 I heard the Chairman making a very strong case for businesses in his own constituency in the context of insurance costs having risen by 100%. Last year RGDATA told us that shop insurance had increased in many cases from €10,000 to €100,000. Restaurant insurance has gone up by almost 50%. The Chairman has heard me talk previously about the case of an hotel in my own constituency of Roscommon-Galway that was facing closure but a very innovative family took it over, maintaining the employment of 25 people. The family looked at the insurance cover which was very low at the time, amounting to €12,500. A review was conducted four years ago and the family was advised that the proper cover would bring their costs up to around €25,000. Today, their insurance costs are almost €50,000 per annum. This really frustrates me because there were only two small claims against the hotel in the period. One was to the value of €2,500 and the other was €1,500. I ask the representatives of the insurance business here today to explain to me how that is possible. In the context of such small claims, there appears to me to be no justification for that level of premium increase. The Government's competitive watchdog, the National Competitiveness Council, NCC, said in 2016 that the biggest issue facing small business was the increase in insurance costs. Three years later and many businesses are barely holding on. These insurance costs will crucify more businesses if we do not make progress quickly.

Senator Kieran O'Donnell asked a number of pertinent questions on the book of quantum. When the reform of the book of quantum takes place - and the work of the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy in this regard must be acknowledged - can the insurance industry representatives assure us that insurance costs will fall? I will give the witnesses another example of the problems here. I know of a haulage company that has secured insurance abroad and I wonder if that is totally safe. One haulier had to take out insurance abroad. He has 15 trucks and at one point his insurance was costing €70,000. In one year, it increased to €130,000, even though there were no claims against his business. His insurance increased by almost 100%. In terms of the costs of running a small business usually wages, raw materials and energy costs outstrip other costs but now, in many cases, insurance is outstripping even these costs. That is not sustainable.