Michael Finucane
Question:12 Mr. Finucane asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if his attention has been drawn to the growth in the cost of employers and public liability; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Public Liability Claims.
Charles Flanagan
Question:32 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment his views on the proposals suggested in a recent IBEC study to reduce the cost of employers and public liability insurance which has become a major obstacle to employment.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 and 32 together.
The recent publication of the IBEC survey on employer public liability claims for personal injury confirms what I have been saying regarding the level of insurance costs in Ireland. There can be little doubt that the cost of employers' and public liability insurance is a major hindrance to employment creation and maintenance here.
Therefore, the IBEC survey is to be regarded as an important contribution to considerations of why and how the cost of personal injury compensation ought to be reduced, particularly in the context of job creation.
Both the number and the average cost of employer and public liability claims are increasing. The cost of these claims is ultimately met by business and so on, such as local authorities, through their insurance premia which totalled £157 million in 1992.
Thus, the insurance reform unit, which I established in my Department, is examining ways and means of reducing the level of personal injury compensation, which substantially determines the cost of employers' and public liability insurance.
I am grateful for the time although it does not ease my frustration. This question, which I tabled on the last occasion, concerns me because in regard to industry it is beginning to inhibit job creation. Out-of-court settlements can be as high as £13,800 whereas court settlements average £21,000. During the summer recess the Minister got considerable mileage out of this issue. Last May he said he felt so strongly about the issue that he would hold a referendum if necessary in order to obtain views on this issue. In the past the Minister secured concessions vis-á-vis juries in regard to legal representation and yet the cost of insurance cover is soaring. The Minister appears to be latching on to one issue all the time — the pain and suffering element — as the easy issue? The Minister has not put forward any proposal. When will the Minister stop waffling? When will the ideological difference between Cabinet members be eliminated? The Minister is nodding his head. His views were published in a newspaper during the summer in which he said——
The Deputy is making a speech.
When will the Government get its act together on this issue?
The Deputy should go out to Malahide and hold a seminar on it.
I would be very interested in the Deputy's specific proposals on this complex matter.
The Minister has been talking about it for the past seven months.
I would be particularly interested to know whether the Deputy's party would agree——
It is more likely that we will get proposals from the Deputy than from the Minister.
——to look at proposals to place a limit on the awards being made by the courts. I am very interested in the Fine Gael Party's view on that subject.
Perhaps we should ask Deputy Shatter to draft a Bill for the Minister.
There is a great silence on that side of the House on that issue.
Has the Minister produced a Bill or the heads of a Bill?
I acknowledge that my previous attempts have not been successful in this regard; the removal of the juries from such cases and leaving it to the judges to determine awards has not brought about the necessary reduction. That only reinforces my view that something much more radical is necessary. I agree with the Deputy that the situation is critical. This morning I had a letter from a firm which stated that their employers' liability insurance had risen to £80,000 from £40,000 last year. That small company employs 60 people and has a turnover of £3 million. Its employers' liability insurance doubled in one year. I greatly look forward to getting the Deputy's ideas and support when I bring forward radical proposals.
Will the Minister clarify whether there is a division in Cabinet on this issue?
Of course not, the division tends to be between lawyers and the rest of us.
That concludes Priority Questions for today.
This is not the first time I have to protest about this.
I do not have discretion in the matter.
I wish to raise the question of unemployment, which I have been waiting to raise for a long time.