Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the subject matter of amendment No. 49, why is the Minister doing this? The interests of the insurance industry are being prioritised above the interests of the citizen. The inference, one that everyone makes instinctively, is "Once a fraudster, always a fraudster," and there is an assumption that the person will do it again. Even if someone who committed insurance fraud, which is a reprehensible crime by which we are all naturally disgusted, has that conviction expunged, what does the Minister believe will happen if it is revealed to the insurance industry? Why would the person tell the industry? He or she will either be refused or fleeced on an insurance policy. Even when people make non-fraudulent claims, they get fleeced by increased premiums because that is the nature of the insurance industry. Why is it necessary to tell the industry? It has records of the claim and the payment being made and will probably bleed the person dry anyway. The amendment moves us away from that position.

Either we accept that someone can change his or her behaviour or we do not. It is as simple as that, and Deputy Mathews put it eloquently. If that is true for the insurance industry, it is doubly true for people's dealings with the Garda. If someone has a spent conviction and a record that has been expunged, it means that a long time has passed since he or she was found guilty of unlawful behaviour. If a person finds himself or herself in a Garda station being questioned about a type of crime that he or she has not committed in a long time and must disclose information, it will go against the grain of the concept of innocent until proven guilty. If the type of crime is similar to what the person had a conviction for, the garda's ears will prick up and the person will become a person of greater interest than was already the case. That is human nature, but it goes against the notion of the conviction having been spent in the first place.

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