Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Two issues were mentioned in particular regarding the hospitality sector. Last Friday, I met the Irish Hotels Federation and a key issue it is concerned about is the wider support for those in the industry from the Government, for which they are grateful. They would not continue to exist without this high level of support. Separately, today I met a group of 20 hoteliers from the Munster region to discuss insurance. They made a number of key points, which we are taking on board. Some of them rely on underwriters from outside the State and this is an issue we have to look at because in my opinion it is not a fair process that a number of the major hotels in the country have to get their insurance from outside the country because of instability in insurance awards in the past. Some companies have been slow to cover businesses with very high footfall.

With regard to the issue of a State insurance company, I do not think we have any plans to go down that road. We are in the EU. There is free movement of goods and services and it is an essential element of why Ireland joined the EU. For us to say we are not willing to allow that situation to continue and that we want to take over and nationalise the insurance industry in Ireland is not an option.

See this speech in context