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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 16 Dec 1943

Vol. 92 No. 8

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Marine Insurance.

asked the Minister for Supplies if he will give detailed particulars as to how the sum in excess of £1,000,000, which it is stated Irish Shipping, Limited, is saving this country in insurance premiums, is made up, showing the different savings effected on ships, freights and cargoes; if he will state when these several risks were first covered by Irish Shipping, Limited, the varying rates on which the said saving is calculated and the period over which the said saving has been achieved; and also by whom and to what extent Irish Shipping, Limited, has been from time to time financed.

Irish Shipping, Limited, is entitled to the same privileges as any other joint stock company in regard to the publication of its accounts and the details of its business. There is no obligation whatever on the company to publish particulars such as those asked for in the question and I cannot see my way to disclose them. I may say, however, that I have had an opportunity of examining the figures and the method of computation and I have satisfied myself that in the company's last accounting year, namely, that which ended on the 30th June, 1943, the company has saved for this country a sum in excess of £1,000,000 which would otherwise have gone abroad in respect of premiums on the insurance of hulls and freights against war risks. Moreover, this figure does not include anything for premiums in respect of war risks on cargoes.

The company undertook the insurance of land war risks at Lisbon in July, 1941. It decided to carry war risks on its own hulls and on freights in April, 1942. The cargo war risk insurance scheme commenced in October, 1942.

As regards the last part of the question, apart from the company's share capital, it was for some time financed by bank accommodation under a guarantee given by the Minister for Finance in pursuance of the provisions of Emergency Powers (No. 72) Order, 1941, and Emergency Powers (No. 157) Order, 1942. The necessity for bank accommodation no longer exists and the guarantee of the Minister for Finance has lapsed.

Will the Minister state the extent of the guarantee?

No guarantee is operative at the moment.

What was the amount of the guarantee which the Minister for Finance gave?

It was a general guarantee covering advances made by the company's bankers to finance the company's business in the initial stages.

It was a general guarantee—not for a specific sum?

I do not think that there was any question of a specific sum.

Does the Minister's reply mean that the company are carrying their own risks—that they are not doing any insurance at all?

They are now doing insurance business not merely on their own behalf but on behalf of other people.

That means that they are not covering themselves. If they lose a vessel, they incur the full loss?

The company have built up an insurance fund.

How can a company pay a premium to itself on its own property?

They have established an insurance fund covering all the risks.

Has anything fallen for payment out of the insurance fund?

There was a payment in respect of the cargo on the Irish Oak.

And the hull?

The hull was not insured by us.

Was there any compensation in respect of the loss of the hull?

The Irish Oak was chartered from the American Maritime Commission and was insured by that commission.

asked the Minister for Supplies if he will state if the letters recently addressed by his Department to traders to whom shipping space for imports had been allocated conveying representations as to effecting insurances with Irish Shipping, Limited, mean that such space will be given only or preferentially to those who insure with Irish Shipping, Limited; if so, if any public statement as to the adoption of this policy has been made, and further, if the Board of Irish Shipping, Limited, had been advised of and had approved of the contents or the purport of these letters and the dates upon which the said company had made the representations ascribed to them.

The answer to the first and third parts of the question is in the negative, and the second part does not arise. It would be entirely incorrect to place on these letters any such interpretation as that suggested in the Deputy's question.

The limited space available on Irish ships for the import of goods from abroad is allocated under my direction by reference solely to the nature of the goods to be imported and the purpose for which they are required. The representations referred to in the letter issued to certain traders were made orally to my Department following inquiries addressed to the company.

I have caused a further letter to be addressed to the traders in question for the purpose of removing any misunderstanding on their part as to the interpretation of the letters previously addressed to them.

If the implication which the normal person would take from that letter was not, in fact, the implication intended, what was the purpose of sending the letter out?

I do not know what the Deputy's interpretation of the implication which a normal person would take from the letter would be. In my opinion, it is the business of persons engaged in commercial activities to support such an enterprise as that which Irish Shipping, Limited, has undertaken.

The Minister has not dealt with the point which I raised, which was: what was the purpose of sending out that letter if it was not that which most people thought was implied?

The purpose was to advise persons importing goods to place their insurances with Irish Shipping, Limited.

Persons who saw that letter were apt to be left under the impression that, if they did not comply with that request, they might not be in a very favourable position to import goods.

I do not think that the letter bears that interpretation on the face of it and I am quite certain that persons familiar with the procedure in connection with the allocation of shipping space would be under no misapprehension, because space is allocated, and must be allocated, before any question of insurance arises.

Surely the Minister appreciates that large numbers of people who received that letter took it that, if they did not arrange to insure through Irish Shipping, Limited, their chance of obtaining shipping space would be very remote. That is what most persons who received the letter thought.

I am sure that the reply I have just given to Deputy McGilligan's question will clear up any such misunderstanding, if it ever existed.

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