Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. It is great to see a former Senator returning to the House in such a distinguished role. I congratulate him on his great achievement.

The issue I am raising today is the cost of insurance for businesses and farmers in Ireland. It is a very important matter. The cost of doing business in Ireland has dramatically increased over the past few years and the cost of insurance is a major part of that. We are trying to ensure this is a competitive nation but insurance is making us uncompetitive at present. I have been contacted by constituents in towns such as Bandon, Clonakilty and Skibberreen who have seen the cost of their insurance go through the roof. They have not been able to get flood insurance since 2009, but now the cost of their normal retail insurance has increased dramatically. In 2014, one of these people got insurance for €4,500. In 2015, it was €7,500 and in 2016, after a struggle, they got it for €10,000. It is the same premises with no major change but the cost of insurance has driven the cost of the person doing business through the roof. The knock-on effect, unfortunately, is that the consumer pays. It is a major problem.

In 2017, the Minister of State's predecessor, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, produced a very positive report on the motor insurance industry. It contained 33 recommendations or objectives. They were positive recommendations. We now must see the same positive input with regard to the business and agricultural communities. There must be a similar report that will examine the needs of those sectors and the needs of the consumer to ensure we can have a competitive market.Unfortunately, we have only two major insurance companies in that market so there is no competition due to the fact that there are only two players. There is talk of price fixing and other issues. On 4 July the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission raided insurance companies in the course of investigating another issue. There are issues of concern in the insurance industry but, unfortunately, there is no silver bullet.

This afternoon I hope we can progress the situation and move forward in order to provide stability in the market. The biggest problem those people face is what their insurance premia will be next year, given that it has literally doubled in the past two years, the question is whether it will double again. They cannot afford to do business like that. We need to have Government intervention so we can have competition and for the Government to step in and ensure that people can do business. I realise there is no silver bullet to solve the issue but unless we start we will not do what is appropriate, which is hopefully to make sure the cost of insurance does not stop people from doing business.