Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, support this very important legislation and I compliment the Regional Group on bringing it forward. The Minister has left and I cannot see which Minister of State is here, but it is important that we deal with this issue for many reasons. Many other countries have legislation in this area and have brought successful prosecutions. However, it seems to be a free-for-all here. I question the legal profession because, while its members have to act on the information given to them, they often know full well that it is not truthful or proper and that many of the claims are fraudulent.

Community halls, GAA and soccer pitches, voluntary organisations, meals on wheels, community employment schemes and mountaineering and kayaking groups have shut down because of high insurance costs, which are a result, according to the insurance companies, of fraudulent claims. That is shameful. Many volunteers, or enablers as I call them, do a huge amount of work to put those community activities in place.

Many of these cases in recent years have concerned playgrounds. My local playground in Caisleán Nua na Siúire is dúnta - closed up - because of two fraudulent claims. I was proud to be the chairperson of the committee that established that playground, but now it is locked up and unavailable to the children who need it because of unscrupulous, scurrilous, low and mean-spirited people who think they can take advantage of a soft touch.

As a business person, the cost of insurance to businesses is frightening. I have experience over the years where claims went in and it was expected that the insurance company would fight those claims. It is thought that the claims are being fought, but then we find out that a settlement was made on the steps of the courthouse. Many a time, we might not even know that has happened.

I have a big family and it costs a fortune to get car insurance to get on the road. Many young people can purchase a car for €1,500 which has passed its NCT, yet the cost of insurance can be anywhere from €5,000 to €8,000. Insurance should be cheaper now because we did not have the NCT years ago. The cost of insurance is crippling, devastating and is destroying our economy. It will become more apparent now in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis because people will not be able to pay.

False and exaggerated claims are devastating businesses and there are few, if any, sanctions against those who make those claims. We saw advertisements on television for some time referring to "Your hand in my pocket" and requesting people to report suspected fraudulent claims. We have seen such claims and the resultant costs in respect of our own county council in Tipperary recently. I do not have the exact figures to hand, but a staggering amount was paid out in one year for accidents. There are definitely some genuine cases, and it is often found that those people seriously injured or, even worse, the families of those killed in accidents do not get half of the compensation they should. It is the same situation with medical insurance and claims regarding medical negligence. In hospitals, it is mainly taxpayers who foot the bill and the payouts are also staggering.

We must get to grips with and tough on those people who are serial claimants. We see and hear about them and we all know about them, and it is just not acceptable or good enough. I am glad the Minister gave a positive answer earlier regarding the acceptance of this legislation. I am also glad to see that it is in the programme for Government. There were, however, similar aspirations in the last programme for Government and the former Minister of State, Senator Michael D'Arcy, spoke frequently in many debates here on this issue. We thought we were going to make progress with that, but we did not.

The interests of the insurance companies are too powerful. We might as well have nobody as have the regulators. Across a wide spectrum of areas, we have regulators for this, that and the other but they are toothless, useless and fruitless in most cases. I mean that and I do not say it lightly. The regulators are all talk and no action. They have fine salaries, for which we pay a levy, and a big board, but they might as well be rubbing butter on a fat sow's behind. They all have their snouts in the trough, and more than that. I refer to the experience of ordinary communities, ordinary people, ordinary business people, ordinary self-employed people and many of the people whom we spoke about tonight. When they get going in the spirit of the dance hall with the siege of Ennis, the foxtrot or the fast dance, there are injuries and claims in those circumstances as well. Those kinds of events are crippled as well and insurance to cover such situations has gone up greatly as well. Insurance has been paid this year, but those venues cannot even operate.

Insurance does not give any credibility and the discounts given for the lockdown were paltry. The Taoiseach told me one day that insurance companies have to make money and cannot pay out to everybody. The Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018 goes to show what Private Members' legislation can do. Deputy Verona Murphy was hopeful and I heard Deputy Pringle chuckling, as I was, about this new Government. In the last Dáil, several Bills were introduced, of which some were taken and some were not. We had some hope then with a minority Government being sustained by a lifeline from Fianna Fáil. If Dáil reform, the Business Committee and the smash and grab with the committees are anything to go by, this Government means we have no hope of getting any legislation enacted. The current Ceann Comhairle is the fourth Ceann Comhairle since I came into this House and he has been extremely fair. Every member of the House is entitled to bring forward legislation and it should not be rejected because it comes from an Opposition Deputy. If the Government means to go on in the way it is treating the Opposition now, it will be a poor outcome for this Dáil.

The Government is limping home into the summer recess tomorrow and it will be very glad to get there. It is like a scalded cat going out the window, because after another week or two it would not have survived and we would have been into an election. I mean that seriously because that is the way this Government is. There is U-turn after U-turn, and it is like the road to Damascus, the road to Kildare or whatever it is. We hope this legislation will hold the Government to account.

I have no issue with Deputy Howlin's amendment because the issue of cyberbullying is very important. It is up to the Regional Group to decide if the amendment can be encompassed in this legislation. I hope that can be done, but we need to deal with this issue. People are losing faith in the whole system and especially voluntary committees and voluntary boards, which are required by guarantee to have limited liability. In the olden days and until quite recently, trustees of GAA clubs, halls and different institutions had sleepless nights because they did not know how they would manage.

I commend this legislation and I am glad it has come from the Regional Group. We will see if the Government will live up to its words and ensure it is accepted and embraced, and amended if necessary. Nothing is perfect, but we can get this legislation into committee, as soon as the committees have been established, and have it examined, passed and put into law. We can then ask the Judiciary to wake up and implement the legislation, and ask our legal eagle friends to back off as well. Everyone has their hands in our pockets and we just cannot survive.

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