Dáil debates

Tuesday, 16 April 2019

Civil Liability and Courts (Amendment) Bill 2019: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

9:35 pm

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak briefly on this hugely important legislation. The threat to small businesses from escalating insurance costs and bogus claims is having a severely detrimental impact on our communities. I do not know what the Minister is doing. His eyes must be closed.

I commend the work of my colleagues, Deputies Michael McGrath and Cowen, and for their persistence in following this matter through. Deputy Michael McGrath had previously made clear that there seems to be no real disincentive to bring forward bogus claims. There is nothing. They can do whatever they like.

The purpose of the Bill is to provide for an increase in the penalties for those found guilty of an offence under section 26 of the 2004 Act. Those convicted of an offence under section 26 can currently receive a maximum fine of €100,000 or a sentence of ten years. Those summarily convicted can receive a maximum fine of €3,000, a sentence of 12 months or both. This Bill increases the maximum fine that can be imposed for a summary conviction to a class A fine, which currently stands at €5,000.

I put it to the Minister that something urgently needs to happen. The journalist, Charlie Weston, reported in January that plans for insurers to fund a new Garda unit to tackle fraud claims have been knocked on the head by the Garda Commissioner, the Aire, and the Minister of State responsible for insurance reform, Deputy Michael D'Arcy. This in turn led to the Government being accused by the Alliance for Insurance Reform of engaging in a “perpetual round of bickering and pass the parcel” instead of progressing key insurance reforms.

I put it to the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, that this is deeply regrettable especially given that, as Charlie Weston has also observed, the idea was based on the insurance fraud enforcement department operated by the City of London Police funded by insurance companies in Britain, but over which insurance companies have no operational control. Why can we not do this here? Who are we covering? We need to be as creative as London if we are to address this problem.

I do not know what the Minister is doing, but civil legal aid is a huge part of it. In response to a parliamentary question from me the Minister, Deputy Flanagan said that more than €605 million had been allocated for legal aid since 2011. The information I have received, however, shows that the costs for criminal aid legal for every year covering the period 2011 to 2017 ranged from €49 million to €58 million. The average cost per annum during the same period for civil legal aid shows that it has never dropped below €30 million. Indeed, there has been a €9 million increase in the costs from 2011 to those incurred in 2017. I put it to the Minister that this is a gravy train and that he is afraid to derail it. Every business, from the cradle to the grave, is being fleeced by insurance costs and bogus claims while the Minister does nothing but stand idly by. The Minister is fiddling while Rome burns. I do not know why he is protecting the vested interests and the legal interests with all of that money. Businesses are being suffocated, stifled and smothered out of existence while the Minister stands idly by. They are just waiting for the Government to go canvassing and knocking on their doors. Let us see the answer they get.

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