Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 June 2023
90. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Finance if he can detail the work being done with local authorities in regard to extending insurance for local community events and festivals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30110/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraWill the Minister detail the work being done with local authorities? He spoke about insurance companies that are working with the local authorities. There was talk of extending this for local community events and festivals. We all know the issues that exist in regard to public liability insurance. This is not the first time we had this discussion. Any updates relating to that would be helpful.
I thank Deputy Ó Murchú. The Government is aware and we have discussed the difficulties being experienced by a small number of sectors in insuring some of their events and festivals. We do not take lightly the challenges that they and other areas have experienced with regard to the availability and affordability of insurance. We engaged with a range of stakeholders, including Fáilte Ireland, to understand the depth and scope of that. As the Deputy is aware and we said before, neither the Minister for Finance nor the Central Bank of Ireland can interfere in either the provision or the pricing of insurance products to specific businesses or individuals. That position, as we have discussed, is reinforced by the EU Solvency II directive insurance framework.
Local authorities are responsible of course for their own insurance provision, including the terms and conditions of same and the Government has no direct role in that regard. However, both the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, and I, have raised the Deputy’s concerns and similar issues directly with the CEOs of insurance firms, including with industry representatives such as Insurance Ireland. Furthermore, both I and officials from the Department have spoken to providers in the activities and festivals sectors and are aware of some potential developments, which may be of assistance. We will continue to work on that in the coming weeks and I will continue to monitor the area as it progresses. It has been a feature of the Irish insurance market historically that some smaller sectors have traditionally been dependent on specialist UK providers passporting into Ireland. As a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, that practice ended. It became much more expensive and difficult for niche underwriters from the UK to provide their products here. That is beyond the direct control of the Government. However, we have tried to help in other ways. I have spoken with the Deputy before about assisting various sectors in coming together about pricing insurance difficulty. I might pick that up on the supplemental.
We all see the benefits, where it can be done, of groups coming together. That is not always feasible for all sorts of businesses and organisations. However, we all know the issues that have existed for many years. We can talk just about companies that deal with inflatables, before we deal with the entire remit of adventure tourism and all the stuff in the public domain in regard to risking closure. It is an absolute necessity that pressure is maintained on insurance companies. Obviously, I would like to see Deputy Doherty's legislation come into play because we know there has not been enough impact in regard to the personal injury guidelines and the fact that there are fewer claims and all those significant pluses. I would still like to know when the duty of care legislation will be done, dusted and enacted. Then there will be a need to make sure that the impact is felt by those who are paying huge premiums at this time. The Minister spoke before about outsurance coming to this State. Has she seen anyone else, particularly anyone looking at offering insurance within the public liability sector, rather than just home and motor insurance?
On the duty of care legislation, the amendment of Occupiers' Liability Act, as the Deputy is aware, is being led by the Minister for Justice. We hope that it will be passed by the House, should time be available at both Houses, before the summer recess. That is certainly the intention. Overhauling that legislation should help to address the "slips, trips and falls" piece and it is an important piece of the conversation we are having around adventure tourism and the provision for festivals and so on. There is a piece of work to do over the next number of weeks and over the summer. I hope to be able to update the Deputy in a more complete way in the autumn. I hope he might give me the time to do that. The programme of work we are doing has yielded results. We spoke before about the impact of motor insurance and where premiums have been in relation to that. We have the Office to Promote Competition in the Insurance Market, which I chair.
The Deputy is correct to highlight outsurance entering the market towards the end of that year. This is subject to Central Bank of Ireland approval and I understand an application has gone in. Also, Coverys International and Revolut will also provide enhanced competition to the established providers. We also note last week's announcement that Generali Italia, which is the largest Italian insurance group, will be buying Liberty Insurance's operations here. It is a large global insurer. It called Ireland "an attractive market", which is to be welcomed. I hope it will be able to expand here.
I look forward to hearing hopefully good news in regard to those developments. We know they are necessary. There is a huge number of businesses under severe pressure at this point in time in regard to premiums. Local community groups with which I deal, such as the WATCH club in Dundalk that offers tandem bikes to take kids with disabilities and others on the tandem, are having difficulty. Those involved with Cycle Ireland are insured but those dealing with a kid who may show up to an event, are not covered. Hopefully we will get something like that worked through. There is no end to the issues that are being caused in this regard. It is really good news in relation to more players looking at this particular market. We need to keep the insurers' feet to the fire. However, are we getting the players that will make a significant impact in regard to public liability insurance? Are any of them making the necessary moves?
I thank Deputy Ó Murchú for placing this question. I have a conflict of interest to disclose. As a director and promoter of a music festival, we hold our breath every year when we have our music festival because insurance is a major issue. If there are claims, that could put a not-for-profit festival out of being. It is apt that the Deputy has raised this issue in regard to what are smaller festivals and community events and the challenges they have in terms of insurance. I agree with the Minister that Ireland is becoming a far more attractive environment in regard to insurance, given the reforms that we have seen. Unfortunately, however, we are not seeing the level of new entrants in terms of competition in public liability that we need to see. Some of those the Minister of State mentioned are looking at motor insurance. However, we need to see an increased level of competition. Will the Minister give us an update in relation to the Office to Promote Competition in the Insurance Market that has been ongoing for some time now, particularly and solely focused in terms of public liability insurance? Is there a pipeline of new entrants? Is there concern in relation to some of the existing players here, some of the big sister large players, maybe leaving the market?
On the public liability piece, the legislation is a crucial part of that. I do not believe that the insurers will have any conversation about barriers in regard to it after that. We have that conversation with existing providers and with new providers coming in. We have found solutions. It is not all bad. We found solutions by working with groups in various areas, as the Deputy said, such as inflatables hire, equestrian activities, childcare and non-standard buildings. Incumbent providers are expanding their product offerings into areas such as SMEs, agriculture and renewables. That is a sign of confidence. We have to acknowledge that progress is working. The conversation about more providers coming in is very important. We had outsurance come in, such as Coverys and Revolut. We are looking at Generali Group and how that might be.
The legislation that Deputy Doherty introduced last week to interfere in the commercial decision-making of insurers would be a direct barrier to the decision-making to come in. Ireland would no longer be an attractive market if the Government was going to require insurance companies to make commercial decisions in a particular way. We have to have a complete conversation about that.
