Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important and urgent Bill, the Insurance (Amendment) Bill. The comments of Deputy Michael McGrath, the Fianna Fáil spokesman, when he was addressing this issue were ironic. He used his time to criticise the speed with which this Bill is being passed. As the Taoiseach mentioned this morning, he failed to comment on the urgency for the 1,600 people waiting to hear if their jobs can be secured by the passing of this Bill. If Deputy Micheál Martin were Taoiseach now, we could expect that by now he would have requested an expert group to do a report on what happened in Quinn Insurance.

There was a relationship between the practices of the last Government and the events that have brought us to the point where hundreds of millions of euro must be found to bail out the Quinn group. The previous Government encouraged property speculation, giving rise to the main causes of our current position as a Government working with determination to root out all that is bad in Irish society. The other partner in this sorry affair is Anglo Irish Bank. A company that provided insurance moved so far from its core business that it managed to lose €700 million in property speculation. That raises questions for the insurance industry, whereby we must look at how any business dealing with taxpayers' money can move so far from its core business to speculation. The previous Government encouraged every business and businessman, no matter if he was in insurance, shop-keeping or the bar and restaurant trade, to move into property speculation. That mix gave rise to the current sorry state of the country.

I was dismayed listening to Deputy McGrath that he could not focus on the positives of this Bill, that there are joint administrators who worked hard to secure a deal that will keep people in employment. He misunderstands completely the appetite within the country for the Government to move decisively to deliver the changes we need so much. There is no expectation that the Government will always make the correct call but the Government would be accused of negligence if we did not provide the High Court with the assurances needed to protect these jobs. Deputy Micheál Martin consistently sought reports and then failed to act upon them. Such governance must be a thing of the past and I commend the Minister for once again introducing legislation in a quick and efficient manner.

I mentioned the practices of insurance companies. We must find a way in future to look at the regulation of the insurance industry. When Cork flooded a number of years ago, groups, including charities, were not able to take cases for the total event to the Ombudsman. At the time insurance companies, particularly the Quinn Insurance group, did not accept their responsibilities to the people of Cork. We must find a way not only to prevent insurance companies from moving from their core business, but also from operating in ways that neglect their customers.

I commend the Bill to the House and commend the Minister on the urgency with which it has been introduced.

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