Seanad debates

Thursday, 4 April 2019

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of Rose Conway WalshRose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is no problem. I am attending the meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach this morning. We have discussed insurance in this House many times. Linda Murray is the owner of Huckleberry's Den play centre in Navan. She has told us that she cannot get insurance. She has 25 days left before she will have to close her centre or the play centres have to come up with an insurance plan. I have spoken previously about the insurance crisis in companies such as play centres, pet farms and other such operations. It is obvious that we have an entire market failure in insurance.

Legislation, including the Judicial Council Bill, which is going through the Houses, should make some difference, but we need to treat it like emergency legislation. I do not say that lightly. The number of job losses and businesses closing because they cannot get insurance is excessive. I ask for co-operation from all parties in the House to prioritise this legislation and treat it like emergency legislation. For example, in Britain insurance for the trains that go around shopping centres for kids is approximately €1,500; here it is €33,000. Bowling alley insurance ranges from €10,000 to €25,000 without any claims.

The secrecy in the insurance industry has not changed since the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach was prompted to prepare the insurance report in 2016 that gave rise to the other reports and recommendations. It has not worked. The Central Statistics Office figures for motor insurance, for example, do not capture what is happening. We also tried to tease that out today. There is a lack of data and there is secrecy. This is evident from what happened last week in the High Court. In February IPB made a High Court application to have its hearings otherwise than in public and for Dorothea Dowling, who was cited, to be excluded from the room. Last Friday Mr. Justice Meenan denied IPB's application for a secret hearing and emphasised the requirement for justice to be done in public. I commend the judge on doing that.

We are not tackling what is going on in the insurance industry. I ask that we treat the legislation relating to insurance as emergency legislation. I ask for co-operation from across the House to ensure it is taken as quickly as possible.

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