Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman correctly notes that the individual who is in charge of a business is not interested in the pathway but I have to be. I am talking about the pathway to how we get the reform done. I am obliged to be interested. I am obliged to adhere to the principle of separation of powers. I am obliged to highlight that the State does not have any role in the pricing of insurance products. I cannot ignore these points. I am determined to do the work that I am doing, rather than ending up wrapped up in court for years. However, if I do not take the correct pathway, that is what will happen and that serves no one.

The Chairman said marts cannot get insurance. I was in a mart three weeks ago and that mart has insurance. On the Chairman's point on whether the cost of insurance is going up, yes the insurance for marts is expensive because the successful marts are putting between 600 and 1,000 large animals into a venue with people. Some of the work practices in some of the marts are not good. I have raised this with the main insurer of the marts in the country, which is one particular insurance company. Many of the health and safety reports done have concluded with the works being carried out, and this has ensured that those marts are insured. Some of the smaller marts potentially do not have enough business to cover the extra work that must be done to bring up the health and safety standards.

I have seen the film "Groundhog Day" with the Bill Murray character. I am unsure whether the Chairman is Bill Murray but there is a character in the film call Phil and Bill Murray comes along every day and greets Phil. I have been here before and I keep pushing our proposals and the work that we are doing. The cost of insurance working group has been on the go for 30 months. We have highlighted how all these proposals would take time. I am unsure whether the Chairman is Bill Murray and I am Phil or vice versa, but we are nearing the end of it. In particular, we are nearing the end of it for what I consider to be the biggest issue, which is the level of awards. When we are done and we get the level of awards down or reduce them, my role and that of the Chairman and the committee will be to keep the spotlight on the insurance companies to ensure they do not try to pocket potential windfall amounts because we will have reduced the awards to the point where people who are damaged from a moderate injury receive a moderate payment. That is what we must do. We cannot allow the insurance companies to do that. I am absolutely determined in this regard, as I know is the Chairman. The Chairman has as great a role as do I because he has a public forum to which he can bring in the insurance companies, one by one, and keep the hard line on them, as I do in private.