Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

At the start of this year, this country was racked with the Bus Éireann strike. Most of the focus at the time was on the economic viability of Bus Éireann. One of the pieces of information that came to my attention at the time was that the director of Bus Éireann stated the cost of insurance claims within the company had risen from €1.5 million in 2014 to €7 million in 2016. We were told this was one of the reasons there was downward pressure on workers' pay and entitlements. I wondered at that time how insurance increases could be the cause of downward pressures on workers' wages. Surely shocking increases in the cost of insurance would be reasons for the downward pressures on insurance costs. Bus Éireann either became extremely negligent, or had accidents it could not deal with, or the insurance industry was responsible for developing an unfair situation. Conas gur féidir an méadú atá tagtha ar chostais árachais a úsáid mar leithscéal don bhrú anuas ar thuarastail oibrithe? An é go raibh Bus Éireann ag éirí níos neamhairí ar a chuid dualgais nó an bhfuil an tionscail árachais mí-chothrom?

Over the past few months, I have been inundated by communications from many families and businesses. The latter either have major difficulties functioning as businesses or they are having their transportation ability curtailed in a massive way. This is happening because of the cost of insurance. A typical small business in Navan, County Meath, employs 15 people and has been open for about nine years. Its insurance cost was roughly €7,000 for about eight years. Last year, it went up to €14,000. The business never had a claim. The reason it gives is that it feels there are not enough competitors in the market. It has a choice of only two separate companies from which to procure its insurance.

Another business in Meath opened four years ago. It had an insurance cost of about €2,500 per year. This has increased to about €8,500. The business has had two claims made against it. It obviously believes these claims are unfair, etc., but it is not for me to say whether they are. It is important, however, to note that a claim or two can actually push a business over the tipping point in terms of functionality. Another business in Meath, which has just won a competition for the best business of its class in the whole State, has told me its insurance has jumped from €8,000 to €12,000. Therefore, there are many businesses that have come through eight or nine years of really difficult trading experiences that are just at the very edge of functionality. Now they are being hit with massive costs.

A couple of months ago, I organised a public meeting in Meath on insurance. We were inundated with people at the meeting. An individual told me his insurance cost increased from €450 per year to €900 per year for absolutely no reason. Another individual told us they had to pay €2,600 for car insurance. A young woman driver who attended the meeting was quoted €6,500 for car insurance.

A key point I took from the meeting concerned the issue of older cars. It became very clear that a number of participants stated they had cars that were over 15 years old. The cars were fully functional, safe, in perfect working order and with an NCT certificate. That they cannot be insured has the effect of saying to two elements of our demographic that they will not be able to drive. Young people and people on low incomes are the people likely to be driving these cars.

The structure of the insurance industry is broken. The Government is responsible for the development of the conditions for industries to function in. One of the key problems with the Government is that it does not seem to be tackling the dysfunction within the insurance industry. There are serious ramifications. Ireland is currently suffering massive increases in inflation in a number of specific areas. There was a report a couple of days ago stating Dublin is now in the top ten cities in the world with regard to construction costs. We are seeing an erosion of the competitiveness of the country. For the past few years, every time the issue of competitiveness came to a head the Government focused on workers' wages, conditions and entitlements but did not seem to feel the same need to focus on insurance.

The gamut of products and services we consume as a people is being affected by insurance costs in this country. Day by day, younger people and poorer people, including those on lower incomes, are being prevented from functioning in the economy itself. It is really important that the Government consider this. Tá struchtúr na hearnála árachais briste. Is cúis lárnach é seo leis an laghdú ar chumas iomaíochta na tíre seo ar bhonn bliaintiúil. Is cúis lárnach é leis an méadú suntasach atá tagtha ar chostas earraí ag seirbhísí. Tá sé ag cur bac ar dhaoine óga agus daoine níos boichte tiomáint ar na bóithre agus páirt a ghlacadh sa ghnáth-shaol.

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