Results 12,721-12,740 of 35,658 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budgetary and Fiscal Implications of Climate Change: Discussion (18 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Could Professor FitzGerald answer the question on Sweden and electric vehicles?

Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Budgetary and Fiscal Implications of Climate Change: Discussion (18 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Does anyone from the ESRI have an insight into why Sweden, with the highest carbon taxes in the world-----

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: According to the latest figures from Insurance Ireland, the insurance industry showed profits of €227 million, or close to a quarter of €1 billion, in 2017. This represented an increase of over 1,000% on the 2016 figure. At a time when customers are being fleeced and gouged by the insurance industry, today's news of huge profits for insurers must mark an end to the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Will the Minister answer the questions about the initiatives that would deal with this issue? What projects will be delayed? What will be the final figure? Why did the Government approve a contract when it knew that construction inflation was nearly double what was laid out? Will the Government support our Bill-----

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: -----which would allow for abnormally low tenders to be ruled out and for contractors’ past experience to be factored into the equation?

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Well, that is an answer.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Yesterday, the Joint Committee on Health met to discuss the construction of the national children's hospital. Not for the first time, the public heard revelations that there are more rising costs, and this is an issue of major concern for people. This project was originally costed at €790 million in 2013. It went up to €983 million in 2017, and then we were told in December...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Nobody disputes the need for a national children's hospital. What people question is why we are providing private units within that public hospital, and why mistakes continue to be made. Why were we told that there was a guaranteed maximum price of €1.433 billion and are now hearing that the contractor is making additional claims? It will cost €10 million extra per month for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. I also welcome his remarks on my Bill which was passed on Second Stage nearly two years ago. It was agreed at this committee that we would deal with amendments to it on Committee State in the second week of July. As I know that the Government has issued a money message for it, I look forward to passage of the Bill into law. In his...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I do not question the Minister of State's objective in making sure reductions are passed on to customers. He has made the point that he does not hold insurance companies in high regard. The point is that 17 years ago we were able to get the insurance industry to produce a table that was very clear. It took into account road safety, the PIAB, a reduction in the incidence of uninsured...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: As the Minister of State said, the figures are accurate. Last year the insurance industry made a profit of €227 million. Some insurance companies did not make a profit in the previous year, but they have since made massive profits totally €250 million. I am not saying insurance companies should not be profitable. Of course, we need insurance companies that are profitable,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: If the issue was as big as they say in all of their advertising, which is that it is costing everybody €50 extra on their premiums, then there would be thousands of claims reported. I have no doubt there are more than 50 fraudulent claims in the system. However, the reality is that these companies are price gouging. If we deal with fraudulent claims, if we enable the Garda...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I agree with the objective. To take a hypothetical situation, if we pass the Judicial Council Bill and if we set up the council - there are a number of ifs - we may reach a position where that panel recommends, for example, that soft tissue injuries, such as whiplash, would be cut by half, given these make up the majority of claims in the first instance. However, the industry is not...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Only data on claims will be analysed.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: We are able to quantify and publish the cost of the average comprehensive or third-party insurance policy and whether that was reducing or increasing. There is no reason the Central Bank should have stopped this. There is an absence of that data and we need it immediately.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Is the Minister of State saying that will be produced in the third quarter of this year?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Will public liability not be a part of it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: When will public liability be a part of it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I want to reiterate that the commitment of the insurance industry for reductions in premiums in line with reforms we will introduce is the key issue.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister of State indicated that he has asked. I am not questioning that and I do not want to go into that space. When I stated earlier that the Minister of State had been let down, I was not talking about his Government colleagues, I was talking about his parliamentary colleagues. We need a commitment from the industry, as was given in 2002, that reforms will result in reductions in...