Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Finally, on the budget, since we last met at a committee, countless businesses and community organisations have closed their doors. They have closed because of the rip-off in insurance premiums and because certain insurance companies have withdrawn from the market. We know that approximately 16 companies that sell into Ireland will no longer be registered etc. as a consequence of Brexit but there is a particular crisis in a certain sector, namely, bouncy castles, adventure centres and that entertainment sector, which no company in Ireland or Britain will insure. Jobs are being lost week in and week out. Unless there is an intervention, whether it is budgetary or the Minister sitting down with the industry, a situation will arise where children will never be able to have a birthday party with a bouncy castle again, as there will be no company providing them in Ireland as they will not be able to get insurance in Ireland or in Britain. When Leisure Insure withdrew from the market, it caused serious chaos. We are now waiting for companies' renewals to arise, at which point they will be left high and dry. The company that underwrites Leisure Insure is AXA XL. When AXA XL moved its headquarters from Britain to Dublin as a result of Brexit, two Ministers issued a press statement to tell us how good this was. Surely, Ministers should sit down with AXA XL and Insurance Ireland to address the crisis we face both in the fabric of how our children play and so on and in the thousands of jobs that are at risk as a consequence. There is now a complete market failure. I wrote to the Commissioner, who said there was no reason why the State cannot intervene and investigate a market failure in this scenario. There is a market failure in the insurance industry. Will any budgetary measures be introduced in the next three weeks that will address this issue? Alternatively, is it a case of wait and see, where we can sit on our hands and let company after company, some which have operated for 20 or 25 years, to just close their doors one after another?