Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no silver bullet but there is no urgency either. There is zero understanding of the pressure and stress that businesses are under. In the Irish Independentstory this morning, there is a quote from Gillian Martin-Smith, the manager of Fort Lucan. She said that "if the Government doesn't move to address insurance costs they are "going to close down the entire country"."

The PIAB legislation the Minister referred to was a Fianna Fáil Bill which was on Government desks for years and was not acted on.

If the Government does not move to address insurance costs, those costs will close down the country. The legislation relating to PIAB is a Fianna Fáil Bill that was lying on Government desks for years and was not acted upon. In the meantime, lawyers are driving things through the PIAB process. The Civil Liability and Courts (Amendment) Bill could be enacted now to deal with fraudulent cases. We are awaiting a money message from the Department of Finance in order to progress the Bill. The Minister has spoken of what will happen in the future. Fort Lucan is scaling down services and a total of 61 play centres are threatened with closure. There was no sense of urgency or awareness on this matter from Fine Gael in the past week until the party's brand was affected and then, suddenly, there was an interest in it. The Minister should stand up for business interests and the employers who are creating employment. She should stand up for parents who are using the services and forget about the reputation of her party. I urge her to stand up for business.

See this speech in context