Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a few issues on this amendment, which I support. While the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General needs to be respected with regard to its audit function, as parliamentarians we need to look at how we establish bodies, how we resource those bodies and how we try to enhance the provisions, services and functions those bodies can provide. Therefore, while there are very clear distinctions between the roles of the Comptroller and Auditor General and others, I believe this is a worthwhile amendment that deserves the support of the House.

There has been much debate over the rising cost of insurance and claims. The previous speaker spoke about fraudulent claims, an issue which has got much prominence. There is no doubt that fraudulent claims are a reality. Deputy Kelleher described people who are involved in fraudulent claims as chancers and criminals.

I know it was not the intention, but those who are involved in fraudulent claims should not be described as chancers in terms of people chancing their arm. The effect of such claims is to take from others through increased premiums.

I have two other points to make. It would be wrong to give the impression that fraudulent claims are rampant and everyone is making them because that is not the case. I made the point about motor insurance that people did not look badly on somebody increasing the cost of a claim if a car had to be fixed. It was not seen as something that was to be frowned upon. Far more awareness is being brought to the issue and in that regard it is important to signal the work of journalists such as Charlie Weston in terms of shining a light on some of the claims and how the courts are now dealing with them.

Another point is that many people simply do not claim. Far more people who have legitimate claims for insurance do not claim because they are afraid it will increase their motor insurance premiums in the future. In the event of their car being hit, they are afraid they will lose their no-claims bonus and they consider it better to pay the €1,000 themselves because they know the insurance company has them by the short and curlies. That is the reality. They are at the complete mercy of this cartel that is operating, one that has been raided by the European authorities. Nobody in government is standing up to it.

I experienced this personally when we, unfortunately, had an oil spill in my home. The first thing the insurance company said to me when I was making a claim was that we would lose the no-claims premium. It tried to dissuade me from making a claim and having it properly assessed. It is a racket. An oil spill in a garden cost €27,000 to rectify. We had to hand everything over to the insurance industry and use its specialist assessor and all of the rest. I built the house for only four times that amount. That said, my point is that the industry tries to maintain that everybody is trying to scam but far more people are afraid to claim because they are afraid that their home or car insurance will go through the roof. The reason is that the scales have been tipped in the wrong direction.

Those who are involved in dodgy claims should be called out. As I have said before, the Minister should have a word with her colleague, Deputy Farrell. What he did in the courts was despicable. He has spoken in this House about the high cost of insurance and the compensation culture, yet he was caught red handed. I criticised the then Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, when he brought the measure forward as part of his recommendations. Likewise, I criticised the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, when he did the same. Finally, the measure has been put to bed as a terrible idea. I refer to the notion that the private sector, private business interests in this State, would fund a section of An Garda Síochána. Who in his or her right mind would ever think that was an appropriate idea, in particular when one considers that the private interest in question was the sector that was subject to a dawn raid by European authorities for operating cartel-like activities in the State? That idea was under active consideration for two years during which we lost time and opportunity. It needs to be made very clear to An Garda Síochána that the Government and this House will provide it with the resources to set up a fraud insurance squad that is publicly funded to pursue those who make fraudulent claims. No matter who a person is, whether a Deputy or a scammer, should feel confident that he or she could go into court with a dodgy claim that is pushing up premiums for other individuals in the knowledge that if he or she gets caught, he or she will walk out of the Four Courts, the High Court or the Circuit Court and say nothing lost, nothing gained. Those who do this need to face the rigours of the law and to achieve that we need to resource the Garda in the required manner. The debate about who should fund the insurance fraud squad should never have taken place. What we need is an insurance fraud squad to be set up now.

My final point is one I raised with the Taoiseach this morning. A year and a half ago I raised a Topical Issue matter on insurance costs for businesses. Deputy Quinlivan has spoken about the Minister's failure to address the increase in insurance premiums for businesses. On that day 18 months ago, I focused in particular on the agriculture sector and marts, of which there are 80 in the State. Marts are crucial to the operation of agriculture. They are the lifeblood of rural communities and the farming sector. It was very clear at the time that they were under serious pressure as a result of increasing insurance costs. The Minister stood where the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is sitting and he said he had spoken to Insurance Ireland which told him there had been no increase in insurance premiums in marts across the State. He went to the wolf and asked the wolf how it was looking after the chickens and the wolf told him it was looking after them well. However, that is not the reality because just last week a mart that was operating in the State for 51 years and providing a service in County Laois closed down because its premiums had increased for four consecutive years. That mart is not on its own. We need to take action and I have called for action. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, should deal with the issue from a business point of view, along with her colleagues in the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Finance.

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