Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

They are supporting the Minister of State's party. The biggest cartel of all is down in the law courts where the solicitors and barristers are on the gravy train. There are a fair amount of them over there on the Government side of the House as well. They will not change the legislation to stop this.

We would love to get emigrants to return but they are fleeced. I have a letter to give to the Taoiseach tomorrow from a returned emigrant who came back and set up a business but he went back as quickly as he could because he was knocked everywhere he went apart from the insurance. The national car test, NCT, is the law of the land - the national circulation programme. I have people in my clinic every day saying they have their NCT, which cost them perhaps €1,000 to get the car ready for it. When they brought in the car it might fail on something small and then they would get it passed. That is a legal document yet insurance companies are laughing at it, saying they will not insure people as their car is more than ten years old. That is morally wrong. It is a crime because the NCT certificate is the law of the land. I support the NCT because it does ensure safer driving. We have to live in the country and we do not maintain our roads to keep our cars in a good state to ensure they pass the NCT. The voluntary sector has been decimated. I am a member of it and so is Deputy Michael Collins. In our own way we all decimated by insurance, the lack of engagement with the industry, hikes and everything else.

I condemn out of hand the fraudsters; the people who have their hand in my pocket. We must deal with them in the courts and introduce more aggressive policies. I am a business man. I have had seven claims and I was running in and out of court for three or four years and the next thing the case was settled one day between the barristers over a nice, cosy cup of tea, but my clock was ticking and the meter was ticking and the money was going up the whole time.

If the insurance companies do not want to conform - it seems they do not - and the Government is toothless, useless and fruitless at making them, we will have to change the system. We will have to disband the insurance companies, and threaten them with that. We will have to put a fee of 10 cent per litre on diesel and other fuel, like in other countries. We will pay as we go then. We must put manners on those people because they are laughing at us at the moment. They are not interested in looking after ordinary people.

I know young people who buy cars and they must pay €4,000 and €5,000 for car insurance. Restrictors can be put on their cars to ensure they drive safely. I am also in favour of curfews. Young people in rural areas cannot go to work or do courses. We are crying out for apprentices and we cannot get them because they cannot get to work. They are getting apprenticeships but they have to turn them down because they cannot travel. We do not have buses, the Luas or the DART. We do not have undergrounds or thousands of taxis. We do not want the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, and his policy of ridding Ireland. Oliver Cromwell is reincarnated in the Minister, Deputy Ross, who would not even come in here tonight to listen to this debate. He is trying to banish and lock up all the L-plate drivers and their parents.

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