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

We all welcome the legislation to establish the small company administrative rescue process. We acknowledge the need for the system to be streamlined. As Deputy O'Reilly said, the big issues are speed and cost. The Bill provides for examinership-lite to give viable micro and small businesses whatever is needed to ensure they survive. That is why in recent times the State has provided business supports such as the EWSS, the TWSS before that and the CRSS. Particular issues arose when businesses fell between two stools. It appears the small business assistance scheme for Covid, SBASC, and the business resumption support scheme, BRSS, will deal with some of these issues for companies that do not have rateable premises. That is very welcome. This was a particular issue for taxi drivers and businesses in tourism. Hospitality has also been under severe pressure and has not been given great news this week. We need to ensure we can maintain as many businesses and jobs as possible in future. That is vital.

I agree with Deputy O'Reilly that we need to ensure there is protection in place for creditors and, in particular, workers. Liquidations have been a major issue in the past while. We need to find solutions because they are necessary. There is a long sordid history of not protecting workers, from Clerys to Debenhams. As Deputy O'Reilly said, the list is long and we need to deal with this matter.

On viability and the survival of companies, it would be remiss of me not to raise the public liability insurance crisis at this time. I worked with my predecessor, Deputy Gerry Adams, with a company in Dundalk which approached us after its public liability insurance premium went through the roof. The company had come up with possible solutions for the leisure industry specifically but also for community centres and so on. We met the then Minister of State, Mr. Michael D'Arcy, and I followed up on the issue with the Ministers of State, Deputies Fleming and English. I thank them for their interaction on the matter.

I recognise that moves are being made in areas such as perjury legislation and the duty of care where personal responsibility has to come into play. I and many other Deputies have been dealing with companies which have been put under the cosh by Covid and public liability insurance. It has reached the stage that a community centre in Blackrock, Dundalk, was charged a premium of €11,000. To give credit to the local community and the community centre, the money was raised online through a GoFundMe-type campaign. This approach is not viable. It is ridiculous that these premiums have to be paid through charity and community support. No entity can continue like that. The community centre in question previously paid a public liability insurance premium of €3,000, so the premium jumped by €8,000. People bring claims cases and I will not get into the ins and outs of those. Sometimes a case arises from an event or a company may have been providing material. A particular organisation may have had a greater level of involvement, to the extent that a claim might never land directly at the door of the community centre. Unfortunately, however, the €11,000 charge for the premium has landed at its door.

In many cases, insurance companies do not go to court because they generally do not think it is worth their while to do so. This creates the difficulties we have now.

We all recognise that the new guidelines on payments are positive. We would like to think they will lead to a reduction in the amount people must pay in premiums, especially for motor insurance. However, we have a specific problem with public liability insurance. I have received multiple submissions on the issue. A community organisation very close to home has possession of a very small piece of ground. Previously, it paid public liability insurance of approximately €600 or €800 a year at its most expensive, but the amount involved has jumped to €3,000. This crisis will impact on the community and voluntary sector, individual organisations and a large number of businesses. It is just not viable. I am aware that the Government has engaged in discussions with some insurance companies. We have an insufficient number of underwriters for public liability insurance. However, we are at a crisis level and we must ensure a solution is found.

I would welcome an update from the Minister of State on where those discussions are with other underwriters and what solutions there are for the community and voluntary sector and the organisations I mentioned. Some of the issues I have been dealing with concern guidelines and licensing for community centres and certain aspects of the leisure industry. The aim is that we introduce best practice and reduce the chance of an accident happening. At the same time, we need Government action to ensure that we have more underwriters in the field and that we reduce the chance of spurious claims. We must happen as soon as possible.

I have already given my support for the direction that has been given regarding the legislation. It is necessary, but we must ensure the viability of the business sector and it will be impossible to do it even post-Covid, when we get beyond the point of needing to provide supports, if we do not deal with the public liability insurance crisis.

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