Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Martin Kenny. I presume he is on his way. I am pleased to participate in this debate because there has been quite an amount of discussion about the cost of living, doing business and operating voluntary community services in recent weeks and months, and rightly so. The pressures in this State are so great on many workers families, small businesses, etc., because the most recent increases, especially in respect of fuel and energy, are the latest in a long list of areas in which the Irish people are being ripped off on an ongoing basis. We often discuss here how rents are among the highest in Europe and mortgage interest rates are among the highest in the Eurozone, the costs of childcare and the fact we do not have anything close to free education, despite the rhetoric often used. The cost of insurance is astronomical for many families, motorists, businesses, community groups and anybody engaged in a practice for which insurance is needed. That is a crucial point that needs to be made: these people need insurance. It is an essential service in order to operate. Therefore, we cannot treat this in the way we might do other private services. The provision of insurance cover is as important to a family, motorist or business as access to fresh water, wastewater facilities or electric facilities.

We cannot allow, as successive Governments have, this to become a private enterprise matter. That approach which Governments have taken has allowed insurance costs to dominate and become so large and astronomical that it is a preventative starting point for people to enter business. We have heard discussions around facilities that have been forced to close and businesses forced to lay off staff as a result of the huge insurance premiums or the inability to secure insurance cover at all.

The work Deputy Doherty has done on this has been incredibly important because he has shone a light on practices of excessive insurance costs. I commend him for that and welcome the fact the Government is taking minimal steps, but they are only minimal. It must go further and implement all the proposals that Deputy Doherty has laid before the House.

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