Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his reply and note the points he made. The industry provided four reasons for the increase in the cost of insurance premiums, namely, claims cost inflation, an increase in claims frequency in recent years, changes in the courts' jurisdiction, and reductions in income from insurers' investments. It would be interesting to have these factors quantified by the insurance companies. The reasons given appear impressive and suggest that there has been a significant increase in the number of claims before the courts and so forth.

Will the Department request a breakdown of the factors allegedly behind the increase in premiums? If it is the case that the cost of claims has increased, why have premiums suddenly increased threefold when one would expect them to increase on a phased basis? Did the increase in claims take place last year? Surely it occurred over a period of years, which would result in a gradual increase in premiums.

The insurance companies involved are trying to put community employment schemes out of business. If a standalone scheme whose only source of income is the moneys allocated under the materials budget is unable to secure an increase in the materials grant to cover the cost of an increase in insurance premiums, it will find itself in difficulty. It will certainly be in a negative position with its bank and the materials grant it receives in 2016 may not cover outgoings it makes in 2015.

This is a serious problem. It would be worthwhile inviting the industry to a meeting and encouraging it to engage more competitively in this area. A number of companies should quote rather than the limited number which quote currently. We must ensure the viability of any community employment scheme is not threatened by increases in insurance premiums. As the Minister of State noted, these schemes provide significant employment, support and experience for approximately 23,000 people. Moreover, participants change every couple of years. Community employment is at the cutting edge in terms of offering people who are unemployed an opportunity to re-engage with employment. Every effort must be made to ensure nothing undermines these schemes.

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