Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I do not doubt for a minute that the Minister of State has put a great deal of work and effort into producing this report and examining this issue over the last while but the level of disappointment and, in many cases, despair at the failure of this report, with all its recommendations and promised actions, to address it in any way that will impact in any meaningful sense on the tens of thousands of drivers who are in a desperate position because of the hiked insurance premiums is quite stark. Nothing in the report will impact directly on the extortionate profiteering levels of premium that mean many people are now literally, and it is not a pun, being driven off the road.

They cannot afford to pay the premiums being asked of them. They hoped this report would do something about it, but quite plainly it does not. The Minister of State put it mildly when he said there was no silver bullet. It is a phrase he used liberally in the various interviews he did at the time of the report, which was repeated in the replies to a number of parliamentary questions and in the introduction of the report. To say there is no silver bullet is putting it mildly. There is no bullet at all. There is no action which will actually impact on premiums in a way that would make them affordable. This is why people are worried.

The stakes in this are pretty high. The Minister of State mentioned Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann. I attended its AGM several weeks ago. To be honest, I was quite shocked by the accounts I heard. Some of the taxi drivers told me afterwards they were literally suicidal because the premium on their car, which is their livelihood, had increased to such a point they simply could not afford it and their jobs were gone. The livelihood was gone. That was it, they were off the road. It is not exaggeration because we know suicides among taxi drivers spiked dramatically after deregulation. The Minister of State will remember there were protests a number of years ago by the predecessor of Tiománaí Tacsaí na hÉireann, Taxi Drivers for Change, because there was a terrifying spike in suicides among taxi drivers.

I witnessed a level of despair among people trying to make a living and working very hard. Taxi drivers have been hammered by deregulation over recent years and are struggling to make a living. For this to be loaded on top of them has broken the back of many of them. I will give some examples. In one year, the premium of one driver with no claims or accidents increased from €1,500 to €10,200. A new taxi driver seeking insurance on his taxi for the first time was quoted €11,000 third party only. This is unbelievable. In one year, the premium of another taxi driver with a full no claims bonus increased from €1,800 to €5,638 and his cover was reduced from fully comprehensive to third party. If drivers actually have a claim they are gone. That was the message. These are people without claims, including new drivers and people with a no claims bonus, who are seeing 300%, 400% and 500% increases. A taxi firm in Limerick, Tower Cabs, which has eight taxis, saw its insurance for the fleet increase 700% from €7,000 to €56,000. This is just not sustainable. It will be out of business if something is not done about this.

I have just come from a protest of taxi drivers, young people and pensioners. All of the drivers there said they are terrified about their premium coming up for renewal. They do not know what they will do. If it is anything like this, they just will not be able to afford it. What will the Minister of State do for them? There is nothing in the report that does anything for them. They will be gone. Taxi drivers are a critical part of our public transport infrastructure. They asked whether there could be recognition from this or any Government that taxi drivers are part of our public transport infrastructure, that we need them and that they should not just be thrown to the wolves and taken for granted as if we can do anything to them and they will just be there. They cannot do it any more. Many of them are being broken by the experience. Their mental health is breaking down, their livelihood is being taken from them and they do not know how they will manage. I appeal to the Minister of State. There has to be, because there is none, recognition of the role that taxi drivers as a particular category of driver play in our public transport system and premiums have to be set at a level that allows them to function in their job. If not, the Minister of State will write off the livelihood of thousands of people and it is not fair.

I have quoted examples of people who have had no claims. Obviously if there is a sustained record of accidents or bad driving a significant increase in premium might be justified, but in the day to day doing of a taxi driver's job people may have little prangs, but if they have a little prang now, even the smallest thing that is not their fault, they are gone. Only two insurance companies will insure them as it stands. I and the taxi drivers appeal to the Minister of State because it is a ticking time bomb for taxi drivers. They have no choice but to fight this. They have told me they are absolutely determined they will fight because their livelihood is on the line. I appeal to the Minister of State on this level.

The taxi drivers approached me and asked me to help them get a campaign going on this because they were so disappointed. The other groups who came along to the press conference we held today included students and young people who are banjaxed with these premiums. Young men in particular are affected. It is really putting them in a very difficult position. There are excessive premiums for older cars. Young people do not have much money and they buy older cars. Today, the USI president said young people are charged premiums of €5,000 or €6,000, which is three times what they receive in a grant but they need these cars. They cannot do it, which inhibits them from being able to apply for certain types of jobs. Students from the country in particular may have to go back and forth from college in the city to the countryside.

The other group involved is the elderly. For many of them, their car is their lifeline. It is their connection into society and their ability to get around. They are experiencing massive hikes in their premiums. As a category, they are being discriminated against. I want to emphasise the phrase discriminatory premiums. Particular categories are being targeted and tarred with one big brush, with extortionate premiums imposed on them because the insurance companies decide to do so. It is baseless. The elderly are much less likely to drink and drive, much less likely to go out in traffic and much less likely to drive at night. These are all the places that might put more in danger. However, they are hit with higher premiums.

There is no justification for these premiums because road safety has improved dramatically in recent years, with fewer collisions and fewer fatal collisions. This is profiteering. What is necessary is a cap on premiums. I would like a State insurance company, as there is in Canada and elsewhere. If the Minister of State is not willing to do this, and it is what is necessary, we need caps on premiums to make them affordable and we need an end to discrimination. There cannot be categories of drivers who are discriminated against and persecuted in this way. I appeal to the Minister of State that we need action or there will be an explosion of anger on this issue.

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