Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 8 May 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Cost of Doing Business in Ireland: Discussion (Resumed)

4:00 pm

Mr. Seamus Maye:

A lot of factors affect the cost of insurance, but small businesses all over the country are in terrible situations. Some people can hardly put a dinner on the table and are faced with enormous bills. I do not know how they will possibly be able to pay them, but when one sees what is going on in the legal profession, it reminds us that we need an Act similar to the Enterprise Act in Britain. We need to examine what is going on and how claims are becoming so enormous. For example, we do not know what the legal fees are. We need to examine the fees being paid in dealing with all personal injury claims. We also need to examine the conduct of the insurance sector, but we do not have the tools to do so. We need to reorganise the competition regime and copy the UK Enterprise Act. That would allow us to look at several sectors, including the agriculture sector, the building materials sector and all of the other sectors I noted.

I read some quotes from Dr. Fingleton who said everything I am saying.