Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I thank the witnesses for being before us. I want to express concern about insurance difficulties on behalf of the many community and voluntary groups that are in existence. I am involved in many such groups. Insurance is a significant issue for them and for their survival. I am involved in a community group that is paying over €3,000 for insurance. It is a voluntary group from start to finish. Sixteen members are elected to the community council. Nobody gets paid. Nobody gets an expense out of it. We have to sell lotto tickets every Saturday night so that we can pay our insurance and our accountants. We have difficulties in that regard. We have 15 or 16 workers on various schemes, including the RSS, the community employment scheme, Tús, JobPath and HSE schemes. The witnesses are familiar with such schemes. Some of our members are also working on Tidy Towns initiatives. Between insurance and Garda vetting, it is becoming more and more difficult. The witnesses can see this. I am sure they hear about it from people. It needs to be taken on board here today that people are leaving community and voluntary organisations because they are exhausted on the red tape side of it. They are not exhausted from the work because they appreciate the fulfilling work they do.

I know we need insurance - that is a no-brainer - but I ask the witnesses to look at the stringent rules and regulations. Payments are sometimes made to claimants on foot of claims that have been the subject of very little investigation. I am involved in a group that was affected by one of these unfortunate situations. We felt that further investigations could have been done. It seems that insurance companies find it too easier to make payouts than to go through the hassle of investigating these matters further. Many of the thousands of groups to which Mr. Garvey referred are under great difficulty as they seek to survive. If we make life more difficult for them, fewer and fewer of them will need to be insured in the future because they will not remain in existence. I would appreciate it if the witnesses would look into this matter. I remind them that each and every person on a Tidy Towns group is a volunteer. They are out there every evening cleaning in their yellow jackets. I see how carefully they carry out their work. They pull out all the stops. Extra fences are sometimes put in front of them. The very survival of many of these groups is at risk. Where can they find the money for insurance and everything else? I would like to go further into this matter but unfortunately I must go to the Dáil to raise a question. I have set out my feelings at this stage. I have set out the position on the ground.