Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will start by thanking and complimenting Sinn Féin and Deputy Doherty for the sterling work he has put into this whole subject, not only in the preparation of this legislation, but in his work on the whole matter of insurance. I appreciate very much the fact that he went on our own radio station, Radio Kerry, last week and gave a comprehensive and proper report on exactly what he is doing here today. I am glad to support the Bill.

This is a most important issue. I see the number of people who are struggling. People have to pay their insurance, whether on their vehicles, properties or businesses. I have been paying public liability insurance for 35 years. Some years it is easy, but more years it is tough to make up the money to pay the premium. One has to pay it to keep one's doors open, lights on and wheels rolling. One has to pay it.

I feel sorry for young people who are given such a hard time by insurance companies when they start driving. We have to get rid of the automatic assumption that because a person is young, be they a boy or a girl, and inexperienced when they start out, he or she will be a big insurance risk. That is not always the case. Young people can be excellent drivers. They can be very careful and studious on the roads, doing their best to avoid accidents, the same as every one of us. They are hit with thousands of euro of a cost. Their vehicles might be reasonable to purchase but they are then faced with the massive cost of insurance. We have to protect those people and work for them. Anybody not supporting Deputy Doherty today will have big questions to answer in their constituencies.

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