Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This legislation is to allow the Government to continue to fund essential services. As the Minister of State is aware, the Estimates will not be finalised until some time in the new year so this legislation is necessary to allow the continuance of payments. I regret that in regard to social welfare the Government chose not to give recipients of the State retirement pension an increase and so no provision in that regard is made in this Bill.

In regard to the Minister of State's responsibility in respect of insurance, it is a pity that the Government has not seen fit to try to make some arrangements for all of the businesses, community organisations and childcare facilities now under serious threat in terms of their future functioning because the Irish insurance market, despite being extremely profitable, is in disarray again under the watch of this Government. The Minister of State's colleague, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, announced that she was astonished that in some cases insurance fees for crèches and such like had increased from €3,000 to €8,000 to €10,000 because of companies leaving the market.

A report was published yesterday by the Central Bank of Ireland in regard to how insurance companies are gouging ordinary people who are paying motor insurance and do not make false claims. The people who make the false claims should be dealt with, but they are a tiny minority among all of the people who properly pay their insurance and do not make false claims. It would have been possible to offer temporary insurance to many of the organisations to which I am referring, including crèches, using the facility of the Irish Public Bodies Insurance company, which is a State owned insurance company, to avoid the risk of valuable community and social enterprises and small businesses closing while the Government seeks to address the real problems caused by the difficulties in insurance. I am sure the Minister of State has met many of these business operators. The situation in regard to crèches coming into the new year is a disaster. The Government should consider the Labour Party proposal in regard to the Irish Public Bodies Insurance company. Such provision could have been easily made through the mechanism of these or other provisions and decisions of the Government.

The Labour Party will not be objecting to the passage of this legislation because it is necessary to make payments but it is a black mark against the Government that insurance is in chaos yet again and many valuable community services, particularly crèches, may be forced to close for lack of insurance.

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