Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Right across the State, families, small businesses and community groups are being squeezed and screwed by soaring insurance costs. In recent months I have been contacted by families across County Waterford who are struggling to keep cars on the road. Any of us who represent rural constituencies in particular, but also all across Ireland, understand that having a car and keeping it on the road is a necessity for many families. Indeed, it is a necessity for anyone trying to hold down a job or pursue an apprenticeship, people who are in training or education. Premiums are jumping by hundreds of euro and in some cases doubling despite there being no claims on the insurance account and even with a full no claims bonus.

Motor insurance is up 11.5% in just the past year, its highest level in five years and nearly double the EU average, and average premiums have risen to over €616. In Waterford, like everywhere else, people rely on their cars to get to work and drop kids to school. We had statements last week on the crisis and chaos in school transport. The car has become ever more important to families, including for the care of elderly relatives. These hikes are not abstract and, as my colleagues have noted, they come in the context of increasing rents and grocery costs and they are hitting ordinary people every single day. People dread when the insurance renewal is coming. People have always dreaded it but now, when we are looking at trebling and other increases, it is particularly difficult. That is not to mention the impact of the insurance crisis and the lack of government action on public- and employer-liability insurance in the private sector for small and medium enterprises and for community organisations. Premiums are up 56% over the last decade yet claims in cafés, shops, sports clubs and community organisations have more than halved since 2019. I have heard from small-business owners in Waterford city who say that insurance is now one of their biggest bills and is more expensive than electricity in most cases. In west Waterford, a local childcare provider described to me how employer and public liability insurance has become such that she really questioned whether she would open her doors in September. Thankfully, she has, and we have, averted the loss of really essential childcare spaces but it was touch and go and she is not confident that she will not make a loss because of the enormous cost of insurance.

What we are calling for here is very simple. We are asking the Minister of State to back our proposals, which our colleague, Deputy Doherty has put down. It is very simple. We need to hold insurance companies to account. We need to ensure correct, fair and appropriate regulation and we need to make sure that people can keep some of that money in their pockets so that it can go into the local economy. The cost-of-living crisis demands action. That starts with tackling the rip-off in the insurance sector.

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