I move that the Bill be received for final consideration.
LOCAL AUTHORITIES (MUTUAL ASSURANCE) BILL, 1928—FOURTH STAGE.
I think this company has a big grievance against the Government for the manner in which it has been treated. The legislation that was brought in to set up the company was faulty, and there have been attacks made on the company here. Suggestions that were made about re-insurance are, I think, part of the campaign of the British insurance ring. That is my view. I may say that what recommended this particular type of company to me was that it is unlike other Irish companies which were built up here, some of which have been successful in spite of the influences of British companies to break them. When they were successful, some of them were bought over. The very nature of this company is such that it could not be alienated, and for that reason alone it is very desirable that a company of that sort should be supported. There is this also to be said in support of it, that since this company was started, the premiums for the insurance of public bodies have been reduced by 25 per cent. by other companies. That is a very big consideration.
I would like to support this passing of this Bill, because in it I think we have the first sign and germ of the building up of an insurance system in Ireland, which will be for the benefit of Ireland and not for the benefit of somebody else. Insurance is one of the five fingers of the grip in this country. In insurance one and a half millions of money are sent out of this country unnecessarily every year. I am one of those people who believe that this country is not rich enough to throw away a sum which, capitalised, is thirty millions of money, and while a very great many very well-intentioned and very patriotic efforts—I want to say that quite definitely—have been made in the past to put Irish insurance on a sound basis from the point of view of Ireland, up to the present they have always failed, and they have failed because they have not attempted, with full knowledge of the difficulties with which they are faced, to put insurance on a basis on which the value could be kept in this country. The whole history of all these patriotic efforts is this: they struggled very hard for a time and they either failed or partially succeeded. While they are in the process of failing, while in a process of great difficulty, trying to build up, while they are unstable and while they can be pointed to as unstable, they are the greatest possible asset to their competitors. There is nothing that a sound and strong business man likes better than weak opposition. Very often he very wisely and deliberately creates it, and a great many of these companies, which in the past have lived their little lives and faded away, have done great service to the outside financial interest which is concerned in Irish insurance. The second thing that could happen to them is that if they weather that first difficult period they are then faced with two alternatives, that they must be bought or they must be smashed. That has been the invariable history. It has always been the policy and, from the business point of view of the people on the other side, a perfectly sound policy, to ignore the weeds and to cut off the tops of all the tallest of poppies. I support this Bill because this particular scheme has in it the germ of permanency, something upon which we can build something very much bigger and very much better, because it does face the real difficulties of the situation, by providing the germ for an insurance organisation which cannot either be bought nor smashed, without the deliberate and open connivance of the people of this country. I am going to mention a particular case to show the difficulty which faced those who had these patriotic ideas and these very good business intentions in the past in relation to Ireland and how they have been smashed.
I think on the Report Stage of the Bill the Deputy is hardly in order in going outside the purpose of the Bill. It is not concerned with insurance generally, but an amendment of the principal Act dealing with this insurance society for a special purpose.
I am anxious to keep as nearly within the limits of the Bill as possible while dealing with the principle which is good in it and the possibility of developing that principle.
I think that is a Second Reading point. On the Report Stage it is too late to deal with the principle of the Bill and its possible development.
Very well. I will simply say that because this Bill does happen to be one to build up the insurance of the local corporate property of this country you have an insurance scheme which, when developed as it ought, will fully cover the whole insurance of all that corporate body, and you will have begun to build up a scheme on a basis which, when it becomes profitable, unless by the deliberate and the open contrivance and open connivance of the people with the enemy, cannot be sold to the enemy.
I think there is nothing further to be said from my point of view now.
Question put and agreed to.
I would ask the leave of the House to take the Fifth Stage of the Bill now.
Leave granted.
Question proposed: That the Bill do now pass.
Perhaps I might avail of this opportunity to say that there seems to be a misunderstanding in some quarters about our criticisms here yesterday, that they were directed in some way or other against the company. They were nothing of the kind, and I am sure that every Deputy who was here knows that nothing of the kind was intended. Our statements were simply that the whole question should be examined, and that in respect to this particular Bill we were doubtful whether the way proposed in it was the best way, from the legal point of view or from the point of view of general policy.
As far as anyone here is concerned I think there was no misunderstanding, and I do not think that I heard a suggestion of misunderstanding outside. It is inevitable that there are influences that would attempt to use any little straw as a means of combating the work of this particular company. I am afraid that Deputies, if they feel that they are misunderstood in their attitude here, will only have to realise that a deliberate attempt is likely to be made to have their attitude misunderstood.
Question put and agreed to.
Bill ordered to be sent to the Seanad.