Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister being in the House to listen to the issue I am raising and give me a reply, as I know he has an extremely busy schedule. I am not bringing this up to have a go at the Government in any way but because we need to tackle the insurance business, as the Minister knows. We recently had a major discussion in this House about the cost of motor insurance in particular. There was widespread agreement on the motion brought forward by Deputy Michael McGrath and that something needed to be done. The Government did not oppose it.

Recently, I was contacted by a constituent with a serious problem gaining an insurance quotation for a new wheelchair-accessible taxi. Last December, he was quoted €1,250 and he applied for a grant scheme made available by the Government to enable him enter the business and provide a badly needed wheelchair-accessible taxi in the Roscommon-Leitrim area. He recently tried to gain insurance after being granted the public service vehicle, PSV, licence but found that no insurance company in the country was willing to insure a new wheelchair-accessible taxi or a new PSV licenceholder. I will not name companies but I am told one of them is the sponsor of the Irish Paralympic team, which makes the story worse. That company is not willing to quote a driver of a new wheelchair-accessible taxi. It is important to point out the gentleman in question has an impeccable driving record, with no blemish whatever. His history is second to none.

I spoke to the Irish Wheelchair Association about this and it confirmed that the problem of a lack of insurance for vehicles is causing untold hardship for wheelchair users. My constituent contacted the Irish Insurance Federation and, with the help of my constituency office, forced an insurance provider to give him a quotation. In December 2015, the man was quoted €1,250 but after much effort, he received a quotation of €12,100. That is so great, the man can only pay it with monthly instalments.

The Irish Wheelchair Association told me there are 30% fewer wheelchair-accessible taxis on the road now because of an untenable insurance cost. On the one hand, we give a grant for people to enter the wheelchair-accessible taxi business to provide a better service for wheelchair users but, on the other, we are letting insurance companies away without providing insurance for badly needed taxis.

A side issue arose while we investigated this. Bus Éireann has invested quite considerably in wheelchair-accessible buses but there is no wheelchair-accessible bus stop outside Dublin. I appreciate that the Minister's office has given me a comprehensive answer on that issue. The main issue is the scandalous way insurance companies are carrying on. I was told recently that the claims issue has reduced considerably over the past year or so. It should not, therefore, be a major factor. I await the Minister's reply and thank him for it.

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