Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I hear what the Minister of State is saying on the issue of the Judicial Council Act and its execution. Implementation is crucial and we need to make sure that next step is taken. However, I fail to believe he fully grasps the magnitude of what is happening. Every week companies are closing. This summer, community festivals that had been running for decades did not run because of insurance premiums. Leisure centres, play centres and swimming pools have closed, and that is just over the summer months, and we only hear of the ones that make the headlines in the national media. A public participation network has conducted a survey showing 83% of its sector faced higher premiums over the past three years, a significant number had seen their premiums double, and more than 30% are paying on average €1,500 annually for insurance cover. This is damaging communities, jobs and the local economy. Worse than that, we have entire sectors, to which thousands of jobs are linked, including the inflatables, archery sector and paintballing sectors, in which companies simply cannot get a quote in Ireland or Britain. They are going to be out of business.

The Minister of State referred to the issue of awards. Awards have been reducing since 2004 and the number of claims that have been resolved through PIAB and the courts has come down since 2004. The only things going up are the premiums and the €227 million profit that these companies made on the back of Irish consumers.

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