Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, to the House. The Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach examined this issue and prepared a report. As a member of the Oireachtas committee that examined this issue, I learned of the many problems involved and it opened my eyes to the many issues that were raised at our committee meetings.

Various representatives appeared before the joint committee. I am sure the issues they highlighted have been raised before I spoke. Representatives of the legal profession, insurance companies, road hauliers, vintners in Dublin and rural vintners appeared before the committee and it appeared that this issue was nobody's problem. It is not the insurance companies' problem. They have to increase premiums because they have lost money. It is not the legal profession's problem. They have not created an increase in insurance costs. We heard that a new book of quantum was to come out and that it would be the be all and end all for claims, but that has not rectified the problem.

Senator Hokpins is right in that rural people have suffered greatly as result of such increases. The increases are putting an extra burden of cost on them. Many households now need not one car but two cars.Most families nowadays are a two-job household so they need two cars. As each family now has to have different types of insurance, including house insurance, health insurance, car insurance, tractor insurance or public liability insurance, there are bigger and bigger burdens on families and all these insurance costs are increasing by the month.

There are one or two problems here. The big problem is that there is not enough competition in the market. We need to get more competition. There are basically only six companies in motor and lorry insurance. I was talking to a lady involved with the road hauliers today, who renewed her premiums last month for the next 12 months. She has seen an increase of 300% on last year, which is outrageous. She tells me that it is possible in Poland to buy a new lorry and to get four years' insurance at a fixed cost. Were one to buy the same lorry in Ireland, the premium probably would go up by 50% or 100% next year, by another 100% the following year or perhaps by 300%, as happened to her and is probably happening to all hauliers. It is making this country uncompetitive. Our transport is mainly lorry transport, roll-on, roll-off, travelling through England or onto the Continent via the ferries in Cork and Rosslare. These premiums are outrageous. The hauliers can reflag in other countries if they want, at a much lower cost. They spelled that out to us.

There is not enough competition in the market. Maybe there is a cartel there as well. We cannot rule it out, given the limited options people have for their insurance. While I welcome the Minister of State's speech today, this is a big problem which is not going to go away. It is putting a huge burden on families and businesses. In respect of commercial rates, there is a publican at home whose case I also highlighted at the committee meeting. He is paying €65,000 per annum for insurance for a small pub that does a little bit of food. It is unsustainable. It is worse than his rent, rates and all his other costs put together.