Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will not withdraw the amendment and will be pressing it.

In her response the Minister spoke about car insurance a lot but she did not speak about small businesses, the cost of doing business and the costs of premiums. All Members have met with business groups and community groups that are struggling. We need to address the issue of the costs of insurance for these groups also. I agree with the Minister that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board will have enough money to perform its statutory function - and nobody disagrees with that - but the current wait to assess a claim is at 7.3 months. If the PIAB has additional funding we believe it should be able to ring-fence that fund to deliver the best service it can possibly give.

Businesses are not seeing a reduction in their premiums. This is what they are telling us. We meet them all the time, and I am sure the Minister has met them also. These are the reasons we believe the PIAB should hold this money. It should be ring-fenced for the PIAB and it should decide if it can deliver a better service. We want to make sure the PIAB retains the money because we believe it will have an impact on insurance premiums. A better service could be delivered and legal costs reduced to insurance companies if that money is used by the PIAB in the way we want it to work. This is why we are going to press this amendment.

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