Public liability insurance reform
Deputy Ó Murchú raised soaring public liability premiums, including for community centres, and welcomed work on judicial reform. The Tánaiste said heads of bill were expected next session and the measure could help sporting and community organisations.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an bhfoireann uilig as achan rud. I have brought up the issue of the crisis we are facing in public liability insurance with the Tánaiste previously. I welcome that he will work alongside Deputy Doherty on the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill. While payouts and claims are down, premiums are up. I will mention Blackrock Community Centre, which was charged €11,000 for a single year's premium. A GoFundMe campaign sorted out this year's premium but that is not sustainable. We need to do much more work to get more underwriters back into the market but alongside that, when will the heads of Bill on dealing with the duty of care issue be sorted out? We need a timeline and delivery on that. I also welcome what is being done regarding the perjury Bill.
Comment on this
We expect heads of Bill to be published in the next session. The Minister for Justice is working very hard on that. This Bill could be particularly beneficial to sporting and community organisations in rebalancing the duty of care and in expecting a bit more personal responsibility from people not to put themselves at risk or injure themselves.