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

I thank the Deputy for Clare, Michael McNamara, for raising this issue. It only came to my attention today after receipt of the information about the Topical Issue debate. I thank the Deputy for highlighting it.

To address a few general points, I understand what the Deputy says about the historic nature of the Spancil Hill fair in Clare. The community is involved and a voluntary committee runs it. It was established by charter 400 years ago. There is a long history attached to this. I know it did not take place in the last two years because of Covid and once before that because of foot and mouth disease. It is part of our national inventory of intangible cultural heritage and plays a key role in the local community, not only from an economic perspective but also, more importantly, because it enriches the social dimension of life in the area and wider region.

Accordingly, I do not take the challenges regarding the accessibility affordability of insurance for such community-based events lightly.

In this case, it seems to me that it is not the price that is at issue but that the fair cannot get insurance. I want to be clear in my understanding of where the Deputy is coming from. He mentioned a number of the legislative initiatives and policy changes taken by the Government in the last year and a half to deal with the insurance industry and the availability of insurance. The Deputy will understand that the Government and Department cannot directly interfere in the provision of pricing of insurance products, nor do we have the power to direct a particular insurance company to provide cover to specific businesses or community groups. Notwithstanding this, as the Deputy mentioned, the Government has an action plan for insurance reform. A number of its actions have already been implemented, including personal injury assessments by the Judiciary. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, is now dealing with this matter and there are test cases in the courts at the moment. This is taking some time. As a result, the number of settlements the insurance industry would normally make in the normal course of events has fallen off dramatically while some of these cases are being dealt with.

The Deputy highlights what I would describe as some of the pinch points in respect of insurance throughout the country. These were exacerbated by Brexit because many of the insurance policies issued here had been done through London. We had a hard Brexit on the insurance industry the day that Brexit occurred. This has led to difficulties and to insurance not being available in many cases now.

Overhauling the legislation will deal with the cost of insurance and the claims the Deputy correctly outlined. However, while that does not provide insurance, it might deal with the cost of insurance. There are only a few of these fairs and similar types of event. In the past year, I have found that if those groups come together and go to a broker, they can, collectively, get a good premium from an insurance company. Rather than each individual fair or street event going individually to an insurance company, if they pool together through some association of fairs, they can increase their purchasing power and the willingness of the insurance industry to take them on will increase.

In my next contribution, I will talk more about the pinch points and show that there may be an option to follow. This is not a commitment from the Department because we are not involved in the insurance industry. If we can provide any advice or direction, we will be happy to do so.

See this speech in context