Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the contributions from all sides of the House. There is unanimity in the House that something has to be done to address the issue of fraudulent claims.

I am not a font of knowledge on this issue. The only expertise I can claim is that I am bringing the messages that have been clearly outlined to me by business associations, farmers' organisations, those in the retail sector, individuals who come to my clinic or those I meet in my constituency on a daily and weekly basis. They are saying they can no longer function in a market that is weighing them down with costs, one of the biggest costs being insurance. From public liability to health insurance to motor insurance, it is a major issue across the board.

This Bill is about sending out a strong message that if someone goes about making a fraudulent claim, there will be a consequence. To date, unfortunately, there has not been a consequence. There have not been any prosecutions of people who went to court and fraudulently claimed they had been injured. It is important to send out a signal that the apparatus of the State, in terms of its prosecutorial arm, will step in to protect those people who are lawfully paying their insurance, the payment of which provides protection to the public using their facilities, in the context of public liability. This provides for a person to claim and to seek compensation and redress in the event of there being an injury. The idea that somebody can pretend he or she was injured in a premises and there be no consequence is wholly unacceptable. It undermines the basic decency of society. We have to protect those who, through taking out insurance, are protecting others. That is what they are doing, and we must be very conscious of that.

Reference was made to the fact that public liability insurance has increased to €50,000 for rural hoteliers. These are country hotels in the middle tier; not at the high end. We now have a situation where insurance costs more than rates in some parts of the State. That undermines the competitiveness of industry and commerce and puts jobs at risk.

There is a final area where it is evident. Deputy Ó Laoghaire and others raised the issue of motor insurance for young people Younger drivers who live in rural or isolated areas simply cannot go to work or college because they cannot afford the motor insurance. An element of the cost built into motor insurance premia is the scam artists, chancers and criminals who go about this country plying their trade knowing that there is no sanction whatsoever. It is the same as going into a shop and robbing the till, but if one was to do that, there would be a sanction, a Garda investigation, a file to the DPP and a potential prosecution. One can, however, throw water on the floor or empty a Lucozade bottle onto the floor of a premises and pretend to fall around the place. It can be blatantly obvious through video and CCTV that a real fall never took place, yet nothing happens. That same person will go to another shop or another retail outlet the following day and do the same thing. This eats people up because they do not like being wronged. They would like the State to protect them when they have been wronged. Chancers and fraudsters who continually go to courts on a fraudulent basis are doing this in spades in the State.

I thank the Minister of State for his words of support. I also thank the Minister for Justice and Equality. I am open and amendable to amendments but the general principle has to be that we must do something to protect businesses and individuals from chancers and cheats.

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