Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I bow to Deputy Daly's greater wisdom as a former officer of the courts, if that is the best way to describe him, as a practising solicitor dealing with some of these cases over the years. We do not necessarily need to read court reports or even Government reports on the insurance sector, as price gouging is legendary at this stage. Deputy Daly quoted a fairy tale some moments ago, but price gouging in the insurance industry is no fairy tale. To use fairy-tale analogy, if I am not labouring the point, it could be said that the Government's approach here involves a lot of huffing and puffing but it does not seem that it is prepared to blow the insurance sector's house down. In spite of all the huffing and puffing, there is very little difference. There is an absolute lack of trust in the insurance sector in this country. That is because of people's hard, bruising experience in recent years. Long before the cost-of-living crisis, we had price gouging by a lot of operators in the market. We know that pensioners and very vulnerable consumers across the country were punished by the so-called loyalty penalty when it comes to motor insurance and, to a degree, home insurance as well. Remarkably, commuters saw increases in their car insurance premiums in recent years when some people's cars were effectively parked for six months or a year in their driveway. We know that accident and claim levels reduced. Scandalously, as the Minister of State knows only too well, local businesses across the country had to fight tooth and nail to receive the business interruption insurance cover for legitimate claims they made. They had to argue line by line with the insurance sector through the courts system to get payments for business interruption claims they were entitled to have in the first place. We still have rising prices. The sector, which has behaved scandalously over the years, is still broken, and I do not believe that it will be kept in check by the Government, given the reforms it has announced to date.

We accept that in some respects, elements of the insurance industry have reduced premiums for a variety of reasons, but they simply do not go far enough. Inevitably, we will see in the coming period the cost of living being used as a cover for insurance companies to increase premiums over and above where they ought to be in the market. The cost of living is the excuse for everything currently. The head of Insurance Ireland told the Oireachtas committee last month that it was "unquestionable" that rising costs would feed into higher insurance. It does not have to be the way. The Government and the regulator ought to question that and hold the sector to account on such statements. There should be no inevitability that insurance premiums will rise, given some of the interventions that were made and some of the reforms that have been introduced in good faith, in fairness to the Government and the previous Government, to try to ensure there is a more consumer-led approach to obtaining insurance cover and to addressing the excessive cost of premiums in this country.

It has been mentioned by previous speakers that we have seen sectors as diverse as hospitality, agricultural shows and festivals and leisure and childcare centres say they have seen very substantial increases in insurance premiums recently, even though we are being told time and again that premiums are coming down. I will use one example to illustrate the point. I use this example because the individual concerned has gone public about it, such was his horror at the recent quote he got from his insurance company. It is a guy called William Sullivan. He operates a business on the Louth-Meath border. He is located in the Meath East constituency, not in my constituency. I visit his business regularly. It is the Irish Military Museum and Park. It gets thousands of visitors every year. He is a collector of significant military memorabilia, and the museum is a very popular destination for people across the country and elsewhere. When he started his business eight years ago, his insurance premiums were €8,500 a year. This year, it is €28,000. It is quite extraordinary. We have a problem in this country with a two-tier economy. We have foreign direct investment striding ahead. The jobs provided are very good and they make a significant contribution to Exchequer revenues and supporting the State. Then we have the domestic locally traded sector, which is in real difficulty. Without significant reform of the insurance sector, we will put those businesses and indigenous Irish jobs at real risk.

In the brief time available to me, I want to make a couple of short remarks about some missed opportunities that the Minister of State should consider. There is a market failure in the insurance sector. I do not believe that the extent of reforms introduced to date will address that. Fundamentally, we are just tinkering around the edges. I have said this time and again. The Labour Party has proposed a range of different interventions that are the norm in European Union countries to ensure that the market failure is addressed. For example, we have called on local authorities and education and training boards to use their ownership of the Irish Public Bodies Insurance, which is mutual insurance, to extend cover to community events and festivals. There is nothing stopping it from doing that.

I would like if the Minister of State could clarify the status of the personal injuries resolution board Bill. That will make a big contribution to the reduction of premiums and costs and provide an opportunity for business to manage better in this very difficult set of circumstances. I will now hand over to my colleague, Deputy Sherlock.

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