Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

From the results of the UK's European elections it is becoming increasingly evident that Brexit is an inevitable reality. The detrimental impact of any form of Brexit, whether it be a hard or soft Brexit, on businesses cannot be overstated. Yet, despite numerous reports and constant pleas from those in the small and medium-sized enterprise, SME, sector across the country, the move to tackle the cost of doing business in Ireland has been minimal at best.

Last year, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Business, Enterprise and Innovation published a report on the cost of doing business and discovered six key drivers to uncompetitive costs faced by Irish businesses. Chief among those was insurance premiums. The report highlighted that the book of quantum is not observed in many judgments. For that reason, far too many cases are settled on the steps of the court, if they get that far, because it is too risky for SMEs to take a case, even in situations where they know they are not at fault. In fact, the report went on to recommend the establishment of an insurance fraud unit within An Garda Síochána and that claimants found to have made false claims should face automatic referrals for prosecution.

Yesterday, as Deputy Calleary has mentioned, we heard the news that Fort Lucan in west Dublin will be forced to close some of its attractions, as a result of the claim culture partly leading to excessive insurance costs. Earlier this year, at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, a presentation was made from a play centre in Navan highlighting the plight of businesses facing such insurance costs. I could list educational, retail and, of course, leisure services facing the fallout from the claim culture and a poor court system for dealing with such claims. If one wants to bring a child to a play facility, for example, one must sign a waiver in most of them. Given the events in the news in the past week, if there is no change what we will see is that the same will apply to adults when they go into a hotel or pub. That would be madness. There must be action on this.

Despite a number of Bills coming before the Dáil on these issues, and, indeed, one from Deputy Kelleher having passed Second Stage, no real progress has been made on this issue. The Deputy Maria Bailey fiasco this week has put it back into the spotlight. While I am sure it is greatly embarrassing for the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and for her party colleagues, there is a much bigger picture at play here with which the Government must deal. Will the Government urgently progress the legislation to improve the book of quantum, as recommended by the Oireachtas joint committee? Will the Government move to progress Deputy Kelleher's Bill, which would enable a judge to refer a fraudulent claim to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, for possible prosecution? Would it consider legislation making it mandatory for claimants to go through the Personal Injuries Assessment Board process, thereby reducing the costs of court for everyone?

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