James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As this is my maiden speech, I ask for a little indulgence for the first 60 seconds. I thank the people of Wexford for the honour of electing me to represent them in this Chamber. It is humbling to have such faith shown in me. I hope that I can meet their expectations; I will give them my best.

Today, throughout our society, there is a timbre of fear. People cannot anticipate their future or that of their children and the fear from this uncertainty is governing their lives on a day-to-day basis. For many, it is a disconcerting fear because it is abstract in nature and its causes often feel unclear. The enemy is unknown and the solutions are difficult to see, but the fear is real and it permeates our entire society. It is felt not just by those who protest, but also by the many who show their emotions lightly but feel them intensely, some to the extent that they feel they cannot go on. It is manifest in many aspects of our day-to-day lives from the locked doors and high fencing in rural Ireland to the sense of isolation often felt by those living in the middle of busy populated cities. It manifests itself in a country where young people are often afraid to go out and old people are often afraid to stay in. Our society is dangerously off balance. A nation or individual cannot prosper in any valuable sense if such a large portion of the people living around them are drowning.

However, the solutions are not found in further division promoted by those with the faith that the breadcrumbs will tumble from the over-filled table at the banquet to nurture those below. Neither are they to be found in the creative inertia of the first responders in the Cabinet or the promises of utopias by pseudo-religious ideologies. Solutions can only be found if we put our community first and create an Ireland for all. While that means developing a successful economy, any economy must serve as a means to an end and not an end in itself. That end is our community - a compassionate community that guarantees security, opportunity, fairness and social justice for all.

I welcome this debate on insurance and will focus on motor insurance. Motor insurance is now the fastest rising item in the Central Statistics Office basket of goods, having risen by almost 40% since last year with insurance companies warning of further increases of up to 25% in 2016. Motorists are being fleeced by motor insurance companies. These increases in insurance mean that by the end of 2016, the cost of insuring an average-size family car is likely to have increased by almost €300. This is resulting in a huge squeeze on family finances and is a serious hit to families' disposable income. Hackney and taxi drivers are being hit with even higher premium increases and are being driven out of business. This does not just affect the employees of these businesses. When a hackney or taxi service is withdrawn, particularly in rural Ireland, it affects the most vulnerable and marginalised the most as it is these vulnerable groups who rely on the availability and safety of known local services. It is the disabled, the elderly and the isolated who rely on safe local hackney and taxi services the most.

I will also address increases in the cost of insurance for people with disabilities. Some of my constituents have seen dramatic increases in the cost of their insurance to the point where it would appear that most insurance companies have little or no interest in insuring anybody with a disability who needs to drive. Subventing people with disabilities so they have an equal chance at life and at exercising their rights in civic society by being able to get insurance for their cars should be looked at by any future committee.

Deputy Donnelly from the Social Democrats said whiplash injuries account for 80% of motor insurance claims in Ireland. I have been involved in personal injury cases for ten years and I can only recall one case solely involving soft tissue injuries to the neck. We in this Chamber need to be very careful about relying on insurance industry statistics. I welcome the Minister's comments about the courts. We need greater transparency in the type of cases going through our courts system. In particular, pleadings should be available to people because this would also help drive down costs.

As rural Ireland has been systematically undermined by the cuts to our schools, Garda stations and post offices and the threats to the viability of rural GPs, people have to travel ever further to avail of critical services. Therefore, access to transport has become necessary to be able to participate in civil society. It is this participation that is further undermined by the unaffordability of motor insurance. The rapid, unjustifiable and profiteering increase in insurance costs is also having an impact on people trying to return to work. People who have found themselves unemployed during the recession and who are now being offered work often find that they must travel for this work. They are willing to do so but find that motor insurance can be as expensive, if not more so, than the cost of a car or van. Motor insurance costs are becoming a significant barrier to people re-entering the work force.

Motor insurance is mandatory but it acts as a flat charge taking no account of ability to pay. I am calling for the establishment of a task force to bring together consumer advocates, the insurance industry, the Garda transport division and the regulator to bring forward practical proposals to reverse this trend. A task force known as the Motor Insurance Advisory Board was set up in 1998. Its recommendations successfully achieved a decrease in insurance costs of 40% in real terms between and 2013. A similar task force should now be set up to end unfair practices in insurance companies. It would appear that the real underlying purpose of what they are attempting to do is to simply back up capital in their funds in light of the case of Setanta Insurance.

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