Ms Claire Downey:

We were tasked with doing some research into how you might obtain product liability cover for community repair specifically. That essentially means volunteer-led repair cafés. If the Deputy is familiar with the model, he will be aware that everybody is invited to bring anything along to be repaired for free. You work alongside volunteer fixers who can teach repair skills to people who come along. They carry out the repairs on site.

The real sticking point for insurers in particular is the risk associated with unknown entities repairing electrical goods, because that is where the highest risk lies. A less significant risk lies with repairing bicycles because there is potential for injury down the line. Those are the two key risk areas we are talking about in respect of product liability. It does not really apply to textiles and furniture so much. The challenge in Ireland is that we are reliant on a small insurance market. I am sure the Deputy is familiar with how this applies to the wider conversation about repair. Insurers are not inclined or incentivised. It is not as viable for them to develop products such as product liability for a very small number of activities. We cannot use the same insurance cover that the UK market provides, for example. Through our study, we contacted 40 insurance companies, placed 30 or 40 phone calls and sent 80 emails but did not obtain a single quote for product liability cover to run a repair café that would include provision to make electrical repairs. However, we did find an insurance company willing to provide group scheme cover. That is the way forward in this area. However, the premium for such a group scheme is very high. The number of repair cafés operating on a regular basis is quite small, and that is partly because there is no insurance. As a result, there is something of a circular argument. If there were a way to support repair cafés to have group scheme cover, as we have seen in Wales, that would probably help to move things along.