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

In the short time available to me, I want to refer to this issue in a practical way by giving three examples of situations I have dealt with since I became a Deputy in 2016. By the way, most of the work in my constituency offices in the past two years has been dealing with insurance issues, not alone motor insurance but also business insurance and now flood insurance, which is an area I have had to examine with Deputy Michael McGrath.

I will give the example of a young man who wanted to start a taxi business in Carrick-on-Shannon. The cost of the insurance was €12,000 and, naturally, he had to abandon his plan. Another example is where parents bought a car for their student daughter. The 2004 car cost €3,000 and has passed the NCT perfectly, and what happens? They cannot get it insured, despite it being perfectly fit for the road. The third example is that of a local hotel which was purchased in recent years and for which I have lobbied. The public liability insurance had been €12,500 but in the second year it went up to €21,000 and it has now gone up to a whopping €52,000.

I and everyone here can tell the Minister of State that the time for reports and that type of action is gone. We want real action. Unless that action occurs in the coming months - in other words, a reduction in insurance costs - many businesses like those represented here this evening will close. They are not able to take this hit. This whole area must be dealt with. We all talk about claims and, of course, there are many claims we can question. However, there is something else going on in the insurance industry that needs to be investigated. The Government needs to get to the bottom of this and deal with it. The book of quantum needs to be dealt with. It is extraordinary that some types of injury, or so-called injury, do not need to have medical backup.

My time is limited and I have to hand over to Deputy Michael McGrath. While I do not doubt the sincerity of the Minister of State, we have to act on this.

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