Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A number of speakers from Sinn Féin have already said how we support this motion. Although I do not think the Minister needed to have it pointed out, they have also put on the record that we were not necessarily supportive of it previously, in the sense that we saw deficiencies in infrastructure and housing, which are major issues that need to be dealt with. The fact is that it is a rainy day fund and it would be madness to put money into a rainy day fund at this point when we are in the middle of a flood and need a financial ark. The supports are all necessary to ensure that we maintain businesses, people and society as we understand it. Beyond that, we will need to look at stimulus because there will be fallout. We know the pain that people have had, both individually and collectively, over this period. We need to ensure, first and foremost, that we get through this gap as healthily as possible and when we are in a safer, better place, following the major roll-out of vaccines, that we can stimulate the economy and ensure that we do not enter into an unnecessary recession.

I welcome the Government's action plan regarding insurance. It is fair to say that the insurance sector was impacting negatively on businesses, community organisations and so on long before the pandemic. I welcome what the Government has said about it. It is talking about bringing down the costs for consumers and businesses, introducing more competition into the market, preventing fraud and reducing the burden on business, community and voluntary organisations. Many businesses, voluntary organisations and community centres have been priced out of operating by public liability insurance. We need all the solutions that are offered and we need to ensure that the Government follows through on everything, whether that is replacing the book of quantum with the new guidelines with appropriate levels of personal injuries awards or enhancing the role of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. There are a number of positive actions to be taken. The Government will look at the disgrace that is dual-pricing. This is all necessary.

We are dealing with this issue at the same time as the pandemic and while we are unsure what Brexit will look like. It depends on which news cycle one sees. There have been some positive sounds from the British Government but we do not know exactly what we will deal with. Even in the best case, we have no certainty about matters such as vaccines being delivered via the landbridge. We have heard about the difficulties for hauliers with regard to contingency plans in Britain. We have difficulties here, with the port companies talking about possibly using Dublin Port Tunnel and other infrastructure as parking bays. We need to see a full audit of all contingencies, accepting that we do not know for certain what will happen, and we need all necessary supports for these three issues.

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