Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Arís, maidir le srianta ama, iarraim ar bhur dtacaíocht, más é bhur dtoil é.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Tá impleachtaí anois ag an ngéarchéim tithíochta do chomhlachtaí agus do sheirbhísí poiblí, dár scoileanna agus dár n-ospidéil, ar fud an Stáit. Níl altraí ábalta tithíocht a fháil in aice leis na hospidéil ina n-oibríonn siad. Tá altraí sa tír seo againn anois a chaitheann leath dá gcuid pá ar chíos achan mhí agus go minic ar thithíocht atá mí-oiriúnach, agus tá go leor daoine ann nach bhfuil ábalta fiú amháin áit chónaithe a fháil ar chor ar bith. The Government's housing disaster is now leading to a staff crisis for business and our public services, including schools and hospitals. Teachers and nurses are unable to afford housing near the schools in which they teach and the hospitals in which they work. A recent survey carried out by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, found that two out of three nursing graduates are considering emigrating, with one in three considering leaving our cities. We now have nurses spending half their salaries on extortionate rents, often in unsuitable accommodation, with many not able to find a place at all. We cannot open additional beds if we do not have the nurses to staff them. Our nurses should be able to look forward to a future in which they can build lives for themselves at home, but thousands of nurses do not have that opportunity.

Many of them have written to Sinn Féin in recent weeks to share their heartbreaking experience of struggling to get by. Reading through what they have told us, one can see very clearly that they are exhausted, anxious and overwhelmed with stress, they struggle to find accommodation, they fork out extortionate sums on rent every month and they worry endlessly about their future. Sadly, many of them see no light at the end of the tunnel. They have written to us of their worries about being forced to emigrate just to have a decent quality of life. I will give the Tánaiste a couple of examples.

A 21-year-old student nurse in her final year in Limerick told us in her own words:

Last year I was homeless for the first semester of college as my accommodation fell through last minute. I wasted all my savings staying in hotels to attend my lectures and then had to sofa surf.

I couldn’t afford much else during this time and didn’t have facilities to cook my own food in hotels. I lost so much weight due to this and the stress... I’m currently looking for different accommodation to move out before Christmas but it’s proving impossible to even get a response from landlords.

As soon as I qualify I will be leaving the country, along with most of my classmates, as the stress is genuinely not worth staying. All I want is a secure place to live.

Another nurse wrote to us. She is from County Louth. She wrote:

I’m 33 and my husband is 34. We both live in the garage of my parents’ house. We will never be able to afford our own home.

We’re emigrating next year for good. It’s a shame as Ireland is such a beautiful country, it’s our home.

I could put dozens more heartbreaking letters like that on the public record. These people are qualified and trained. They want to look after patients and want to provide for our health service but they see no future as a result of the housing crisis the Tánaiste and his party have caused and sustained. These nurses have told us of their anxiety. Many of them have told us they do not see a future here. However, the Tánaiste has told these nurses in the past that he knows better. He has lectured them like he has other public sector workers and other young people who have decided to emigrate. He has told them that the grass is not always greener on the other side. However, no one really knows the reality these nurses are living or the difficulties they face better than themselves. The housing crisis is wearing them down. It is forcing them out of this country to seek a better future for themselves. The facts are blatantly obvious for anybody to see.

When will the penny drop? When will the Government take action? This is no longer a housing crisis; this is a social crisis. This is creeping into every sphere of Irish society, from education to health to business. When will the Government introduce a three-year ban on rent increases, as we have been calling for for many years, to ensure that a month's rent is put back into renters' pockets through a refundable tax credit?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and for sharing some of the stories and experiences he has put on the record of the House. To be very clear once again, absolutely everyone on this side of the House, including everyone in government, accepts that we have a deep crisis when it comes to housing. We have seen a big increase in our population and we have an economy that is growing very fast. New households are being formed every day and we have not been able to build enough new homes and apartments to keep up with that increasing demand over the past ten years. We acknowledge that has led to a very deep social crisis that is affecting our country as well as a very deep personal crisis for many people. We see it manifest in lots of different ways, including very high rents that people have to pay and younger people - and not just younger people - struggling to buy their first home. We see it in homelessness now rising again. We also see it, as the Deputy outlined, in some of the difficulties the public sector, including the health service and the education system, and private companies are having in recruiting and retaining staff, particularly in Dublin and our cities, but not exclusively there.

There has been some real progress, and it would be unfair not to acknowledge it. We anticipate that this year we will build approximately 28,000 new homes. That is more than any year in maybe ten years, and that does not include derelict homes being brought back into use or student accommodation. That is the kind of figure we expect we will achieve this year. It is not enough but it is more new homes than in any year in the past ten. In the past 12 months, 16,000 first-time buyers - they are not just statistics; they are people, couples, families - bought their own home. That is more than any year in the past 15. ONe would have to go back to 2005, 2006 or 2007 before seeing that many people buying their first home. That is progress but I acknowledge that it is not enough. It is nowhere near enough, and we need to do much better to turn the corner on housing in the months and years ahead. We are introducing the rent tax credit. That will be available for people to claim in the next couple of weeks, I believe. It is something the Deputy and his party advocated for a long time. We have agreed to do that. It is worth €1,000 per renter, provided he or she is paying income tax. For two people, a couple, renting a house, that is €2,000. In a lot of cases that will be a month's rent back into people's pockets. Three people renting a house or an apartment will get €3,000 between the three of them, and, therefore, in a lot of cases it will be a month's rent back into people's pockets - sometimes more, sometimes less. That is something we are doing and people will see that money in the period ahead.

When it comes to nurses specifically, we have a pay agreement with the public service that will pay increases for nurses and other public servants over the next year. We have the rent tax credit I mentioned and the new form of cost-rental housing, whereby the Government provides rental housing at a below-market cost. That can make a big difference too.

When it comes to a rent freeze, we have rent pressure zones, as the Deputy will be aware. The figures from daft.ie, for example, and the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, show that for people who are established tenants and who have somewhere to rent already, rents went up by approximately 2.5% last year. The real problem is the new tenancies, that is, new properties coming to the market. A rent freeze would not affect them because they are being let for the first time. There are just not enough of them, and that is why the price of them is too high. The solution has to be mostly about supply, although not all about supply. We have to do everything possible to increase supply over the coming months and years and to stem the exodus of small landlords from the market, which is a big part of the problem as well.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Tánaiste talked about pay agreements and so on. Half the nurses in this State did not get the pay increase to which they were entitled that other public sector workers got in October. That is how we are treating nurses.

The issue of rents and housing is at crisis point. The Tánaiste said the Government is not doing enough. I put it to him that so many people are emigrating because they see no hope his Government will change track.

For 12 years, Fine Gael has been in government. For 12 years, individuals, be they nurses or teachers, have seen the housing crisis deteriorate. Homelessness figures have never been as high with 11,000 people homeless while rents and house prices have never been as high. We are seeing indicators of commencements dropping off significantly over the past number of months. For many years, we have been calling on the Government to introduce a rent freeze to make sure rents remain at their current level and put a month's rent back into renters' pockets. When we put this proposition to the Government first, the Tánaiste defended the income of landlords. He said that one person's rent is a landlord's income.

The point we are making is that this is not just a housing crisis; this is a crisis in health and education. The INMO has pointed out that 46% of graduates in a major hospital in Dublin are leaving. They are not staying. This is on the Government's watch. Can the Tánaiste give us some confidence that there will be a change of direction? Will it introduce a rent freeze for three years and will it stop these extortionate rents increasing year on year?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Pay increases for all public servants kicked in in October and have been backdated to February. They have been paid to the vast majority of public servants but I acknowledge that has not been the case in large parts of our health service. I met with the unions during the week. I met the head of the INMO, Ms Phil Ni Sheaghdha, and the head of ICTU and they raised this issue. We agree that it is not acceptable that people who work in our health service did not get their pay increase at the same time as civil servants, teachers, gardaí and everyone else so we are working on that. The Deputy knows that payroll systems in the health service do not operate the way they should. It is our responsibility to fix that and we are working on that. We can guarantee people that they will get that payment, even if it is late.

Regarding the Deputy's proposals, the rent tax credit will be a month's rent back in renters' pockets in many cases.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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No, it will not.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It will.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is €500 per year.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is €1,000 per renter, €2,000 for a couple and up to €3,000 for three people renting because renters get it for this year and last year.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is €500 per year. Stop misleading the Dáil.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Before we move on, cuirim céad míle fáilte roimh na scoláirí óga thuas staighre atá ag éisteacht linn. Bogaimid ar aghaidh anois go dtí ceannaire Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre, an Teachta Bacik.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh ár gcuairteoirí freisin.

Last week, I raised some stories about the human face of the housing crisis. They were stories about people at the sharp end of the housing crisis such as the 27 renters who were renting premises within a stone's throw of where I live in the south city centre off Camden Street that was not suitable for residential accommodation. These people were renting patently unsuitable premises because they could not find and afford anywhere else. This week, we heard about a shortage of teachers, particularly in Dublin, and difficulties retaining and recruiting teachers, nurses and staff in every sector from hospitality to retail to the professions to multinationals.

The difficulty arises because people cannot get appropriate accommodation in our capital city. We have got to a point where there is now a Dublin penalty - a penalty people pay where they are seeking to work and live in Dublin but cannot afford to do so. I am hearing increasingly desperate stories of people earning what would be considered good wages who cannot afford suitable or appropriate accommodation anywhere within an easy commute of jobs in the city centre so it has become a Dublin penalty. We see the shortage of accommodation throughout the country, particularly in urban areas.

Like many colleagues, when I cycle around my constituency, I still see properties lying empty and sites undeveloped. In recent weeks, we heard from Dublin City Council that 28,000 live planning permissions in its area have not been activated. Enabling or facilitating the lying empty of premises and the non-activation of live planning permissions is fuelling the record homelessness figures that are so shameful for us all. This is what is fuelling escalating rents, lengthening housing lists and substandard living standards for so many people.

To misappropriate the phrase of the writer O. Henry, Dublin will be a great place if they ever finish it. What we are not seeing from Government is a policy that will encourage and incentivise the finishing of Dublin and ensure that people will have decent places to live in our city centre and will be able to live and work in Dublin city, in particular, but also in towns and cities around the country without paying exorbitant rents and mortgages. We know this situation has arisen because of years of reliance on a policy that has treated property as an asset for investment and that sees housing as a commodity rather than as a public good or a human right. We need to move away from that. What is the Government going to do to ensure there is a clear carrot-and-stick approach - a carrot to incentivise those who are sitting on vacant sites to build homes on them and a stick to sanction those who let sites lie idle while people queue for housing and are unable to afford to live in the city?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy once again for raising this important issue. I acknowledge that the public service and many private businesses are struggling to recruit and retain staff, especially in Dublin, but also all over the country. Of course, housing is a factor in that - the high cost of housing and rent and the sheer non-availability of anywhere to rent. However, it is also appropriate to mention some of the facts. Notwithstanding all that, there are 2.55 million people at work in Ireland, more than ever was the case previously. The number of teachers employed in our education sector and the number of doctors and nurses employed in our health service is many more than it was five or ten years ago and, therefore, it is not the case that we have fewer nurses working in the public health service or fewer teachers working in the public sector than was the case five or ten years ago. Those numbers continue to increase but there is a real problem recruiting and retaining people for lots of different reasons. The availability and cost of housing are part of that.

I heard the Deputy's analysis. We should not forget that the housing assistance payment, HAP, was created by a Fine Gael-Labour Government. It was brought in when Labour was in government and it is important to acknowledge that as part of any analysis of housing. The HAP is very useful for people. A very important decision we made recently was to increase the income limits for social housing. This means more people will qualify for social housing, particularly working people who did not qualify previously because they earned a bit above the limit. More people will qualify for the HAP, which is a good thing because it will help them to pay their rent. Previously they got no help with their rent.

I agree with the Deputy in respect of sites that are not being developed and planning permissions that are not being activated. There is planning permission for approximately 70,000 new homes, most of which are apartments and most of which are in our cities. We need a carrot-and-stick approach because it is not always about the stick or the carrot. Sometimes there is a viability issue. We have introduced the derelict sites levy and will bring in the zoned land tax to tax land that is zoned and is not being developed. We are bringing in the vacant property tax so that if somebody has an empty property that is habitable, there will be an additional tax.

In terms of viability, which is the carrot, we have the Croí Cónaithe (cities) scheme to make apartment developments more viable and the grant of between €30,000 and €50,000 to help people turn derelict properties into habitable ones while the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is using government money to subsidise the building of student accommodation on campuses around the country so we are pursuing a carrot-and-stick approach where sites are not being developed and planning permissions are not being activated.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Tánaiste for the response. Labour has a proud record of seeking to deliver change to improve conditions for people and ensure we can deliver constructive ways to addresses crises that arise, particularly the housing crisis. What we sought to do with the HAP, about which he will be well aware, was to replace rent supplement, which had become a poverty trap, and to ensure a short-term way for people to address issues around housing. It was never intended to become the significant long-term issue it has become.

What we have seen over the past six years has been a failure by Government to deliver on the necessary State investment to ensure the construction of necessary social and affordable homes. What we have seen instead is an overreliance on the private sector to deliver and, as a result, this developing policy that sees housing as a commodity and an asset for investment rather than as a public good and a human right.

Can the Government reorient policy to ensure State intervention to deliver on the construction of social and affordable homes that are so badly needed for all those who are working in the public and private sector to ensure that we can see a future for the generations who are now priced out of housing, both rental and purchase?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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If the Deputy examines the legislation on the HAP, she will see that it says that once people are in receipt of the payment, their housing needs are deemed to be met, they are taken off the housing list and can only be on the transfer list. That is legislation that we did together in government. I absolutely agree that HAP is not a long-term solution, and I am absolutely in favour of greater State intervention in the housing market. The Deputy may not believe that is the case, but that is the case. I am not sure that there has ever been more State intervention in the housing market than there is now. Roughly 28,000 homes will be built this year. I would say half of them are happening because of some form of State intervention, whether it is through the social housing programme. More social housing is being provided this year than probably in any year in the history of the State through various different means. Cost rental is a new form of public housing that is being provided for the first time. Other schemes include the affordable housing schemes and the help to buy scheme. If the Deputy went through those 28,000 she would see that in some form or another, State intervention is helping or causing those homes to be built. We will step that up next year and the year after; I guarantee the Deputy that.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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It froze again last night, and the cold snap is set to go on through the weekend. The cost of heating a home was high in October and November. In December, it looks like it might go through the roof. Many who have not yet faced the choice of heating or eating will face it now. On Tuesday, a reporter from a Cork radio station spent the day with the local charity, Penny Dinners. He counted 900 food parcels being handed out between 9 a.m. and lunchtime at 12.45 p.m. to people from all walks of life, including students, elderly people, the homeless and workers on their lunch break. EirGrid came close to issuing an amber alert yesterday. There are reports that an alert may not be avoidable in the coming days. This is not so much caused by the cold snap as it is by the energy supply feeding frenzy of the data centres. It is reported that talks took place this week between the Government, ESB networks and EirGrid. I would like the Tánaiste to report to the House on these talks and give an assurance to the country that no household will face power cuts in the week ahead.

According to The Economistmagazine, 147,000 more people will die in Europe this winter, if it is an average winter, than would have been the case five years ago because of rising electricity prices. Price increases kill. Despite us having milder winters than most, Ireland had more so-called excess winter deaths than any other country in northern Europe in the 33 years after 1980. Many say those deaths were caused by the cold. It is more accurate to say that they were caused by poverty and an inability to heat homes. It is a real mark of disgrace on Governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that Ireland has that terrible record. I am receiving reports of elderly people in my constituency who are not turning on their heating in this cold snap. They are terrified by the price increases and they are clearly not convinced that the budget measures will cover the increased costs. I am also receiving reports from working people and people with kids, who use pay-as-you-go meters, who are very concerned that their €200 electricity credit will be used up during this cold snap, and that they will be left in a tricky situation over Christmas. Why does the Government continue to exclude these households from the disconnection moratorium? The State's coffers are overflowing. There was €5 billion in corporation tax receipts in November alone, with a surplus of €12 billion likely. That is three times the financial firepower that has been used on cost-of-living measures.

The Dáil has one week left to run before the Christmas break. Next week could, and should, be used to put in place extra emergency measures to help our people out over the Christmas period. What does the Tánaiste say to that?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I wan to put on the record of the House that the Government has been advised by EirGrid and the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, that the system outlook for energy supply for this winter is similar to last winter. There will be periods when the margin between supply and demand will be very tight. We think that is particularly going to be the case over the course of the next week or two because temperatures will be very cold and the wind will not be very strong. For that reason, demand for electricity will be high but generating capacity will be stretched. I want to state clearly that we did come close to an amber alert in the past couple of days. We have not had one since August, although that may well happen. An amber alert means that there is enough electricity available. It is when there is a red alert that we get into a different scenario. That has not happened yet. We cannot guarantee that it is not going to happen. If we get to the point where there is a red alert, and the demand for electricity outstretches the amount we can generate, the first port of call will be to power down the large energy users, which are the data centres that have their own backup electricity. That is not the problem. We are not going to have a situation whereby the first call is on homes, farms or small businesses. That would be way down the line. I want to reassure people that while the likelihood of brownouts or blackouts affecting homes, farms or small businesses cannot be ruled out, they are highly unlikely because n the unlikely event that we are short of power, it will be the large energy users, such as the data centres, that will be instructed to turn on their own generating capacity, which they have and have to have. I want to make that very clear to people and, hopefully, give them some degree of reassurance about power supply over the winter period.

In terms of the cost of electricity, the Government is here to help. People have received the first €200 of their bill in the form of the energy credit. There are two more instalments of that to come between now and the end of the winter. As the Deputy will be aware, we have reduced VAT on electricity and gas to 9%, the lowest it has ever been. We have introduced increases in welfare payments that people will have received over the past couple of weeks, and applications are now open for the fuel allowance. Many more people, particularly older people on low incomes, will qualify for the fuel allowance from January. We reckon 70,000 to 80,000 people will qualify for that. Applications are open, and paper applications will be open shortly. We very much encourage people to apply for that because if they are pensioners, for example, they will get the extra €12 a week from January and they will also potentially qualify for the fuel allowance for the first time. That is a further twenty-something euro a week. We would really encourage people to apply for that. Of course, other interventions are available, such as, for example, exceptional needs payments.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The State is taking steps, but are the steps sufficient? According to bruegel.org, the German state is spending 7.4% of its GDP on shielding households and businesses from the energy crisis; the Irish State is spending 0.9%. In Greece, most households will have 90% of the energy price increases covered by the State. Cold snaps can make or break governments. Forty years ago, a Fine Gael-led Government was doomed in the court of public opinion when a couple of days of snow got the better of it. On Saturday week, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will swap the top jobs and then the Dáil will break for more than a month. What happens in the course of that month if there is a second or third cold snap? What happens if there is not just an amber alert but household power cuts? What happens, in the meantime, if the cost-of-living crisis becomes unbearable for a far greater number of households? No one is saying that the Dáil should meet on Christmas week, but does the Tánaiste agree that in those circumstances a break of a full month is far too long?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I appreciate that the figures the Deputy quoted come from an independent source, but I am not sure if they stack up, because 0.9% of GDP is roughly €3 billion. Everyone knows that the budget package was €11 billion and we did other things last year long before the budget, so I think those figures require further examination. The Deputy is right that Dáil is going into recess for a month. I guarantee him that the Government will not be going into recess for a month. The Government will probably take a one-week break. We will have a Cabinet meeting Christmas week and one in the first week of the new year. The Government will work during that month. We will allow people to take a few days off to spend some time with their families, perhaps five working days, but I can guarantee the Deputy that the Government will meet through the recess, including in Christmas week-----

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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What about a forum for the Opposition?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and first thing in the new year.

During that month, the second instalment of the energy credit will be paid and 70,000 or 80,000 more people will qualify for the fuel allowance. Pensioners and people on welfare will see those increases in their weekly payments during that month while the Dáil is in recess, although the Government will not be.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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We are at an inflection point for this Government. Given that the Tánaiste is about to rotate away from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I ask him for his reflections on the programme for Government commitments to deliver on insurance reform. What changes have been made? What does the Tánaiste feel has and has not worked? What should the next Minister perhaps try? Despite all the noble words, premiums continue to float upwards and insurance continues to strangle the social, cultural and commercial life of our country.

Some commercial premiums are reported to be rising 50% this year for firms with no history of claims. For others, the business liability insurance premium is up by 30%, and good luck trying to get a quote for adventure tourism. No new competition has entered the market to shake things up. We have another 15 years of the 2% levy brought about by the Quinn Insurance collapse. This costs €20 to €30 per household per year. We have something to look forward to, I suppose. We have no present public record or Circuit Court awards so we cannot see where payments are reasonable or unreasonable. The extent to which our independent Judiciary has reflected on agreed claims guidelines is a cause for concern. Too many cases still end up in the courts. The legal fees and costs are too high. The court outcomes are too unpredictable for many insurance underwriters to try their luck.

The programme for Government sets out the problem clearly. Insurance costs are too high for business, motorists, households and sporting, community and voluntary groups. The programme for Government priority was to improve competition, moderate excessive payouts and compensation claims and, most important, deliver legal reform. It all sounds a bit Mary Harney-esque circa 2003, to be honest.

The Dáil is waiting for the Government to move the occupiers' liability reform Bill forward. We are also waiting to see the new insurance competition office actually working and doing the job it is required to do. We have to wait to see if the Personal Injuries Resolution Board, PIRB, is more successful than the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB. On that point, I was the only Deputy to table an amendment seeking a subsequent review to the PIRB legislation, which I think should still happen. We already know that some reforms already look like they are not up to the task. Perhaps we need to bite the bullet and consider a citizens’ assembly and referendum to make insurance work for our economy and society, rather than having our society working for insurance. What changes have been made that the Tánaiste feels have worked or not worked? How should the next Minister try to achieve lasting insurance reform?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this question. As he knows, I chaired the ministerial committee on insurance reform. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, who has responsibility for the sector.

For far too long, the cost and availability of insurance has been a big problem for businesses, consumers and community and voluntary groups. We have made good progress on implementing the action plan. I have always said, however, that the success of the plan will not be measured by the number of completed actions but, rather, by whether the reforms implemented over the lifetime of the Government result in reduced premiums and increased availability of insurance. While we have seen some signs of improvement when it comes to availability, we have only seen premiums for motorists decrease to date. There is also likely to be a lag time between implementing these reforms and people seeing the benefits.

The Cabinet committee subgroup has worked very well in overseeing the action plan and 90% of the actions are now complete. I want the subgroup to continue its work next year. It will continue to be chaired at a high level by either the Taoiseach or Tánaiste. It will actively review developments in the sector, monitor price changes and engage with stakeholders.

Progress we have made to date includes the new personal injury guidelines, which are being used, and the establishment of new offices to promote competition and crack down on fraud. We strengthened the law on perjury legislation to reform the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, which has been passed and now awaits signature by the President. I understand we accepted the Deputy's amendment on the review as part of that and it was a welcome contribution. We also put proposals in place to amend the law on occupiers' liability, that is, the duty of care provision, to rebalance responsibility between those who run and own premises and those who may come into it. We anticipate having that done if not in the first quarter of next year, certainly in the first half of next year. Where savings have arisen from these reforms, we expect them to be passed on to policyholders. That is the message being conveyed to the industry by Ministers and I reiterate it today.

In terms of prices to date, despite the current trend in headline inflation at approximately 9%, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, indicates that motor insurance is 10% lower than a year ago and 43% lower than when it peaked in 2016. PIAB data also show a significant 44% reduction in award values for general damages and we now expect those reductions to be passed on to policyholders. We have, therefore, seen a significant reduction in motor insurance from its peak in 2016. We now want to see that when it comes to employer and public liability insurance over the course of the next year.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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We need the occupiers' liability legislation enacted as soon as possible. As the Tánaiste well knows, the costs are not coming down in the commercial insurance sector as well as had been hoped. That remains a significant problem. We are not seeing the arrival of new competition in the sector. In that respect, there is talk of buying groups being formed, whereby industry sectors come together and seek to get a discount and start underwriting. Unless they have combined insurance premiums of more than €1 million, however, there is nowhere for them to run. That is a big problem for people involved in the bouncy castle business, sports and adventure centres and the performing arts.

What is the Government doing to support the smaller business? We need greater transparency regarding the fee income and insurance company profits being recorded at present. As I have advocated previously, we need strict review procedures to ensure the PIRB and, subsequently, occupiers' liability are working as desired. Most of all, we need to stop the feeding frenzy in personal injury compensation in this country. The new insurance office must sit on that in the coming year.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am informed that the duty of care legislation, that is, the occupiers' liability legislation, was passed by the Dáil last week as part of an amendment to another justice Bill. That has yet to go through the Seanad and I expect it will then be enacted in the first quarter of next year. We expect the President to sign the legislation to reform the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and turn it into the Personal Injuries Resolution Board within the next couple of days. Once that is up and running, it will change the incentives. At the moment, if people do not accept the PIAB award, there is really no risk. They can go to court and will either get the same award or more. The only risk is having to wait. The legislation will change that so there is a risk in going to court. People may end up with less and with legal fees to pay. That will be a positive change.

As I said, the Government is very committed to this. The changes we made around motor insurance took a year or two to result in lower premiums. We believe the changes we made in the last year or two will result in decreased premiums in the next year or two. That is what we need to see as the benchmark for success.