Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues. The first is the ongoing crippling costs of motor insurance. I commend my Fianna Fáil colleagues in the Dáil who have a motion on this issue on the clár today. The report issued for the first quarter by the Government recently shows that three of the ten recommendations to be completed by the first quarter of 2017 remain to be completed. This is a sad indictment of the Government and its performance on this issue, which has been ongoing for more than three years. As Members will be aware, in 2014, motor insurance increased by 11.5%; in 2015, it rose again by over 30%; and during the 12 months to December 2016, it rose by a further 12.2%. It can be seen clearly how this is crippling our citizens. To give Members a practical example of this, a young gentleman who recently returned from six years in Australia received a quote in excess of €4,000 for his motorcar. This is despite the fact that the same gentleman had more than six years' no-claims bonus before he emigrated. When he contacted his insurance company, it told him it only takes into consideration the most recent two years and he was therefore excluded. What is ironic about this is that he was dealing with the same insurance company. This highlights just one example of how such a simple thing as this is causing serious problems. To add insult to injury, at a time when we are encouraging our young people to come home, they will be burdened with serious motor insurance bills upon their arrival back home, and this is clearly not good enough. I ask the Leader to ask the Government to expedite a resolution of this matter.

I will raise the other issue very briefly. On this, the day the leader of Fine Gael and our Taoiseach is to give notice to our Fine Gael colleagues this afternoon about his departure-----