Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 November 2020
70. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Finance if he is considering the calls from a group (details supplied) and other arts and cultural bodies for insurance reform; and if he is considering a refund of public and employer liability insurance for organisations that now have no insurable events going ahead. [27499/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI will take this question on behalf of Deputy Duncan Smith. As we all know, the high cost of insurance is a major issue for businesses right across the country. It is a particular issue for the arts and culture sector. We know the sector was the first to close in the initial lockdown and will be the last to open when the threat of the pandemic recedes. An Arts Council survey has shown very clearly that venues that are closed are losing revenue in terms of income from audiences and other sources, up to €3 million per month. I believe that is a conservative figure. Does the Minister support the view that those venues that are closed should receive refunds from insurance companies for public liability and employer liability insurance?
I acknowledge all the work Deputy Nash has done in raising the interests of the arts sector. It is an area that he and I both feel very strongly about. We look forward to the point at which we will be able to enjoy live music gigs again. We truly appreciate the value of live performance when we are not able to enjoy it in the way we were in the past. I recognise the work done by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport, Gaeltacht and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, in this area. She has been extremely innovative in trying to put in place new funds and programmes to support the arts sector. It is great to see a number of web streaming live performances will take place to provide much-needed income to the artists involved. It will be an opportunity for music lovers and families to enjoy that, albeit in a different way.
To deal with the particular matter Deputy Nash has raised on behalf of Deputy Duncan Smith, I believe the insurance sector must play a role in assisting its customers in what has been an extraordinary and very demanding period. In light of that, my officials and I engaged with the insurance industry through its representative body, Insurance Ireland, although with particular regard to the provision of motor insurance reliefs earlier in the year.
Deputy Nash will be aware that further commitments were made earlier in the year by most of the key insurers in the Irish market that they would ensure that a number of common forbearance measures would be made available to their customers. I welcome the statement issued by Insurance Ireland on behalf of some of its members last month that these measures would continue to be implemented.
The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, raised this specific matter and I will take the opportunity to raise it also. Given its importance, perhaps Deputy Nash could give us a perspective on how he believes those forbearance measures are being implemented.
I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply. He is correct that significant action has been taken by the Government to support venues and individual artists. He is also correct that the arts and culture sector is intrinsic to our identity and sense of ourselves. The Minister and I share a deep interest in the practice of arts and culture in this country. One of the largest outgoings venues have is their annual insurance bill. There is currently no blanket refund scheme in place, such as those we have seen in the motor insurance and private health insurance sectors earlier this year to reflect the facts that people did not have access to certain hospital treatments during the first lockdown and the roads were less busy during that lockdown period. That was reflected in motor insurance and health insurance refunds. I ask the Minister to look deeply at this. I am aware of organisations throughout the country and in my constituency that had to battle very hard with their insurance companies to access individual refunds. I ask the Government to take a closer look at the matter.
The Deputy is over time. I am sorry but I am just trying to ensure we stick to the time. Deputies are waiting.
Yes, I will raise this matter. I am aware that forbearance measures are being made available to the arts sector, but I did think that they were being made available in a manner that was typical of what happened with motor insurance earlier in the year. My understanding is that this was not being done through a common forbearance decision, but that it was being dealt with on a business-by-business basis. I understood more progress was being made than Deputy Nash has indicated. On the back of the Deputy raising this matter with me, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, and I will raise this matter again with Insurance Ireland. It would be great to see our music venues and theatres being in a position to reopen in the way they operated in the past.
I thank the Minister.
We have a while to go on that yet but I hope they will be able to do that with as low a level of debt as possible. I will get back to Deputy Nash on the matter.
There is not a blanket understanding across the sector and there have been some difficulties with individual venues, which were battling with their insurance companies to obtain some refunds to reflect the fact that they have not been open to the public and there is obviously less risk associated with that. Given that both the Minister and I are extremely interested in the arts and culture sector, I urge him to consider very deeply the calls by individual and national arts organisations to allow them to reopen safely, with some limitations, during the Christmas period so people can enjoy live music and live culture experiences in individual galleries, museums and arts centres across the country. I ask him to consider that, as I know he has an important meeting later today with his Government colleagues to consider how we lift the level 5 restrictions and move safely into December and early January.
I assure Deputy Nash that we are trying to get the balance right between the absolute imperative of keeping citizens safe and healthy and recognising the deep and intrinsic value of culture.
Such culture includes live performances and museums. I look forward to the day, for example, when schoolchildren can go into our museums again and we can have Irish and international artists performing in venues, particularly in smaller venues, presenting the art that is so special to us all. We have important decisions to make and a journey to go yet in allowing these venues to be opened safely. Much work needs to be done.
On the specific point raised by Deputy Nash, I will bring up the insurance treatment of artistic venues to see what further progress can be made.
I will go back to Deputy Cormac Devlin's question now.
