Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I was contacted recently by a company in my constituency in the broader hospitality industry. It was closed for much of 2020 and 2021 as a consequence of Covid, yet has had a 300% increase in insurance costs since 2019.

There has also been a considerable increase in its excess. This is in spite of the changes to judicial guidelines which, as the Minister of State rightly said, have had a big impact on motor insurance premiums. One would assume they should also have had an impact on business insurance premiums, particularly in that space. Considering the degree to which the hospitality industry was shut down and the associated low level of claims made, there should surely be reductions in that area as well. What work is under way within the Department to monitor the cost of premiums as opposed to waiting on informal feedback? There should be some system of monitoring premium costs in order that an eye is constantly being kept on whether the reductions arising from the Government's work are being passed on to the customer.

With regard to competition, I welcome the arrival of a new company in this space but the difficulty is that history shows us that a company lands, takes all the business and then, when it pulls out, we are left scrambling again. How are we going to avoid that?

See this speech in context