Mattie McGrath spoke on 5 Oct 2022 about proposed insurance reforms, welcoming the legislation while warning it may not resolve rising premiums or insurers leaving the market. He highlighted consequences for protected homes, community groups unable to secure cover, and the toll of costly litigation and bogus claims.
Legislation and reform welcomed
Mattie McGrath said he welcomed the bill and the proposed change from PIAP to a "personal resolutions" board, stressing the importance of mediation and resolution outside the courts. He urged that the new arrangements must be effective in practice and cautioned against insurers departing the market and creating de facto monopolies.
Heritage homes and businesses affected
He described a protected combined dwelling and pub in a village in Tipperary — Keaton's pub in Carton, East Geek — that can no longer obtain insurance as a dwelling. McGrath said this situation should not be happening and warned of wider consequences for owners of protected houses and small businesses.
Community groups losing cover
McGrath reported that many local events and voluntary groups have been unable to get insurance this year, or face premiums they cannot afford. He said communities running playgrounds and activities with safety statements in place are being discouraged by the insurance market's withdrawal and price rises.
Bogus claims and legal costs
He gave examples of what he called dubious claims at local playgrounds, recounting cases involving adult use of children's equipment, costly court and appeal proceedings, and heavy legal fees. McGrath argued these claims and the expense of litigation drive up insurance costs and undermine community initiatives.
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Will you go with yourself to conclude? Good morning, I'm friends. You're a welcome to the Chair in the House of the Minister, and welcome back. You were always a very engaging Minister and always had your best to meet with TDs, with the oppositions and everywhere else. So I wish you, look, just to avoid the golf classics, and I'm going to say that in gist. I know you were there for a perfect good reason to pay tribute to your late colleague and your late fellows, a good colleague, a late Mark Killarley. Look, I welcome this legislation as well, because we need insurance reforms. So we're changing the name of PIAP to the personal resolutions and to his board, but resolution is very important, resolution of all conflicts. As a businessman myself, business owner, perhaps in a business, and indeed as somebody involved in so many community projects, I know that by insurance, the ravaging that insurance is doing, and if we'll end up now, which we probably will, with more companies leaving the market, as with the banking situation, will be in more trouble, because, you know, there'll be monopolies. So I hope that the changes here, you know, I know that numbers are quite high, that have used the previous board, and it has been a way of getting resolution outside of the core system. And the last place anyone wants to go, is down to the Trasta, and on our own, crash the river, end up down with the, I nearly said the hood of the gentleman, the wig gentleman, and who have the other arm of the state, and it can be very costly, can be very, what will I say, disquieting experience. I've been there a few times, and, you know, it's a place that every word costs a lot of money, and sometimes you get nowhere, but you'll find Bill at the end of the experience. So, Minister, insurance reform, like, I'm dealing with your colleague, Deputy, Minister Fleming, about detached houses. We're here now trying to preserve our heritage, and I know I'm straining a small bit, but, with your permission, Chair, and we have houses that, heritage houses, that are protected. I have one particular one in the village of Bela Halubi, in Carton, East Geek, in Tipperary, a lovely pub, Keaton's pub, now doing to, and now they can't get insurance insured as a dwelling. It was always a dwelling, the combined dwelling and the pub, and I know there were, before the, the, the, the Petitions Committee last week, I was unable to attend, but this needs to be sorted out. It's beautiful, protected, attached, and bent up the road, opposite the church, lovely setting, and they can't get insurance for it, and they're living in it. So, I mean, that shouldn't be happening in any, um, function in society. Um, then we have countless, um, community events. They have, we have no longer, this year. Many of them have succumbed to, couldn't get insurance, I couldn't afford it if they got it. And that is, it's more intuition. That, that, that is terrible. Communities that want to give of the time voluntary, and want to run events safely, with their health and safety statements in place, and everything else, and can't get insurance. And then if they can get it, they can't afford it. That is simply, um, not a satisfactory situation. And also the fact, you know, the cost of insurance then to, um, to, to employers, to business people, to, to employers' liability, public liability, you name it, to, to the, to the road insurance. So, we're talking about reforms. In this case, this is a, a, a, a welcome reform. But, will it have to eat? It's the problem here. We have new boards, new name, a bit of scale, get a freshen, and, um, um, but will it have to eat? A lot of these places, they love to have the head office, and the plaque on the wall, and the fancy furniture, and the seat, and the CEOs, and everything else. But, not, that doesn't happen. So, maybe I'm too critical, because they have done, uh, some, but the resolution is so important that we would have mediation and resolution. But, can I just say, as regards to bogus, uh, claims, I mean, um, in the, uh, playground in Koshna, and they were my own village, we put up a playground when I, I was actually chair of the committee, but it got into disrepair and just closed, and my own, uh, daughter, Councillor Maureen, got involved in a new committee. And, um, tossing she a reese, and they tattled up great guns. And I say, wait, two claims. And, um, you know, adults falling out of, uh, bogus basket swings that, we had, um, many, many, uh, we had cases, some, uh, I won't go back to, it happened here in Dublin, and there was alcohol involved, but this was during the day, and it signs up that these are for children under 12. And then, they get solicitors and barristers take the cases. And, um, anyway, in fairness, the cases were left out of court. But, lo and behold, they're now after being heard in the appeal court, and we're awaiting judgment, awaiting judgment. And, uh, you know what it costs to go to the appeal court. So, I don't know who, is there sugar daddies, or is there, is there no, is there no, no fee, but it's despicable, despicable that community groups want to put facilities in place for the children of the parish and surrounding parishes, get great joy and engagement, and then you will have people that don't want to make a hail of it. And the main part of the defence, actually, in the appeal recently was the fact that, uh, the former Prime Minister, now Imaha, uh, Boris Johnson, when he was mayor of London, was actually, in one of these swings, was pushing, um, one of the royal family, Prince, I don't know which of the princes it was, uh, for the Special Olympics in London, back, uh, De Polino, in, you know, Rupert Moshin, uh, ten years ago or more, and if, if it's fit for the Prince and Boris Johnson, the, uh, the, the, the, the, the analogy it was made, the analogy it was made that it was suitable for adults in the village of Khosha Niu Na Shura, Thibadon Hesse, under the shadow of the Galatea, of the, of the Nakhmadao Mountains. So it was fit for the Prince, and that was for an ad for Special Olympics, and, uh, the, the, the solicitors and palaces that took that case should be ashamed of themselves, as far as I'm concerned. I know you're right at court, right at justice, but this is frastical and the extreme, and we want to encourage communities. That's what we need in our communities, but we have these kind of frauds, um, fake fraudulent claims, and they've just caused this quite unease, and if, if this goes against the Council, it'll probably pick up the tab, and that's taxpayers' money, and the playground will probably be closed forever, if it goes, if this decision doesn't come, uh, out, right, and, and if, uh, you know, so the appeal court, if you would mind, a new, pretty new court is here in, in, in, in, in Dublin, the appeal court. So, look, with those few words, I, I rest my case, and I, I, I, thank you for allowing me in, in the first round, because I was being second round. for now, go, back. Welcome back. Thank you. Thank you. If you like, and I just want to make this happen, all of the way. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.
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