Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will set out his plans to address the rising cost of and issues with accessing public liability insurance for community groups to operate local festivals and events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11384/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, I wish to reassure the Deputy that I recognise the concerns felt by many community groups across the country around the cost and availability of insurance cover. Accordingly, Government has prioritised insurance reform through the Action Plan for Insurance Reform. The third Action Plan Implementation Report demonstrates that considerable progress has been achieved, with 90 percent of the 66 actions contained therein now delivered or ongoing.

Data from the Central Bank illustrates that the public liability market has been loss making for a number of years, and consequently insurers are reluctant to enter into this area. At the same time, this more specialised market segment is closely linked to global insurance trends, and is therefore slower to reflect the changes being delivered through the Government reform agenda than more commoditised products such as motor insurance. Nevertheless, there are clear signs that the market is beginning to respond to the success of the Action Plan for Insurance Reform, with insurers moving into previously problematic niche areas such as childcare, inflatables, non-standard housing and the equestrian sectors. Officials from the Department of Finance continue to engage with stakeholders in the industry to identify and encourage new capacity to enter the market. As such I am hopeful that increased cover for certain community-based events will gradually become available over the course of the year.

In terms of upcoming issues, rebalancing the Duty of Care legislation is now a priority and is being led by the Department of Justice. Overhauling this legislation should help to address the issue of ‘slips, trips and falls’, which are particularly prevalent in heavy-footfall areas and could potentially unlock further liability insurance capacity for community group activities. At present Minister of State Carroll MacNeill is involved in an intensive round of meetings with the CEOs of the main insurers and is pressing the need for firms to respond to these reforms in terms of the price and availability of cover.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to assure the Deputy that it is Government's intention to ensure that implementation of the Action Plan can have a positive impact on the affordability and availability of insurance across all sectors in the economy.