Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I, too, join in the congratulations to the Minister and wish him well. I would also like to thank my colleague, Deputy McGrath, for once again putting forward a motion that makes a lot of sense and proposes a simple and achievable action.

This is a new Dáil. Time and again we have heard calls for the Dáil to be taken seriously. I do not think we can accept the idea that we come in here and vote in favour of motions, and then return in five, six or eight months' time to find the will of the Dáil has been totally ignored and nothing has happened. If the Dáil accepts the motion put forward by my colleague, which I hope it will, that then is the will of the people's representatives and should be acted upon.

It is very important that the Government immediately establish a task force to examine this issue. Since the motion was tabled a major debate has started. All of the inevitable interest groups said they were not the cause of the problem. Nobody has explained to us how, for example, the significant change in the number of fatal accidents over many years has not had the desired effect. There are many GoSafe cameras, but they have not had the desired effect of reducing accidents and, therefore, insurance costs. Many other things that have discommoded lots of our citizens have not had the desired effect of at least providing them with affordable insurance.

We need to get to the bottom of what is going on urgently. We need evidence on whether there is any legitimate basis for charging extra premiums on older cars, when many such cars are used by families as a second car for runabout journeys. They never go at any great speed and are often driven by family members for school transport, going shopping and other such family business which is not high risk. We need evidence on the charging system.

In the motion, Deputy McGrath clearly outlined the steps that need to be taken, the challenges we face in trying to find out the real basis for the increase in insurance premiums and whether it is evidence based. There is ample evidence that a lot of the necessary data is not available to make that judgment.

In the short time available to me - two colleagues are due to follow me - I will make another point. There is a fantastic legal battle going on between different interest groups regarding Setanta. Those who were injured by drivers who believed in good faith that they were insured are entitled to compensation. Whether the compensation comes from the compensation fund or other funds, at the end of the day unfortunately it is likely to be motorists who, in one form or another, will pick up the tab. We need to bring this matter to conclusion and make sure that those who have suffered losses because of the failure of Setanta are paid what they are due.

We need to make sure that type of bad regulation cannot happen. A company which is regulated aboard cannot come into the Irish market without proper prudential scrutiny having been carried out to ensure it will not collapse. Unfortunately, my time is up. Deputy O'Dea be delighted to note that I have finished five seconds early.

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