Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Saturday I received a telephone call from a business person who employs 106 people in the hospitality sector, comprising a supermarket and small play area for children, in a rural town in Ireland. Last year his insurance cost €19,000, with an excess of €500 for any claim. This year it is €49,000 and the excess has increased to €20,000 for a claim. People are at their wits' end. If this continues, businesses such as this will close. We have been talking about this for the past three and half years. The time has come for the Government or someone else to step in and reduce the cost of premiums.

We have heard today of a claim taken by the parents of a young child who fell in a crèche and was awarded €32,000. The crèche concerned will be lucky to survive. The Minister of State mentioned getting quotes from other companies. If one is dealing with a broker, when it requests a quote for a company nobody else can touch it until the broker gets back to the business concerned.

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