Mr. Peter Boland:

It can be difficult to get transparency in this area because when a sector gets to the point where it cannot get cover, some are faced with the difficult decision as to whether to continue operating without cover or not. That is not the kind of information that is often made public. I fear there are organisations in this country that have had to choose to operate without cover because they cannot get it.

What the Deputy said about thatched cottages applies doubly with regard to thatched pubs, for example, which are often part of the currency we use to we sell this country abroad. Such pubs are in real danger of no longer being viable purely because of the cost of insurance. There are whole other sectors of society that are fundamentally threatened. The area I have a particular concern about is anything to do with children. Play centres, playgrounds, bouncy castles and many types of educational establishments, particularly in the early years sector, are threatened by the cost of insurance or the lack of the availability of cover. This is not a challenge that other countries face. If we want our children to grow up as robust individuals with a good understanding of risk and we want them to be able to socialise, to play actively, to be outdoors in either organised or unorganised environments, we must get insurance sorted. That is just one sector I have picked but there are plenty of other sectors that have the same sort of existential threat around them at the moment. This is unique to Ireland. It is not happening elsewhere in Europe. Many of our member organisations have recounted European meetings where it has taken them quite some time to explain the predicament they are faced with in Ireland because it does not exist anywhere else. That is why it needs to be sorted. Even at a macro level, that affects our competitiveness in sectors where we are competing directly with other countries, for example, in tourism, where price can be important. We need to get insurance sorted. From a societal point of view, much of the stuff we currently take for granted will not be around in the longer term if we do not get insurance sorted.