If I renew my motor insurance tomorrow morning and am unfortunate enough to be in a soft tissue accident, the award paid out would be about, on average, 60% less. Therefore, the insurance company, as of my renewal tomorrow morning, should be charging me a lower premium. Is that factual? We can look back to when representatives of the insurance industry were lobbying for these awards to be cut. They told us to a person that if they did not reduce insurance premiums for motorists in the region of 15% to 20% after hav…

I wish the Minister would join me in calling for these premiums to be reduced right now. There is no reason premiums are being charged at yesterday's or last month's rates when awards were 60% higher. Does the Minister know what AIG, AXA, Allianz, Zurich and a number of other companies have in common? They are the largest six companies in Ireland and they are also the largest six companies in Britain. Does the Minister know what the difference is? When Britain reduced the awards for whiplash, they introduced legisl…

On 2 March, AIB reached an agreement to acquire Goodbody stockbrokers for a sum of €138 million. The Minister will remember that in 2010, AIB sold the same entity, that is, Goodbody, for €24 million. Under the State agreement with the bank, AIB not only had to consult the Minister regarding the acquisition of Goodbody, but crucially it required the Minister's consent to put pay packages in place that circumvent the bankers' bonus levy, which is a levy that is passed in law by these Houses. Will the Minister clarify…

Three issues are at play regarding this, that is, how this position interacts with the law, whether it is politically appropriate, and the precedent it sets for other banks. On the first point, I have read the legislation, which specifies that excessive bank remuneration charges will apply to employees of any institutions that were given financial support under either the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Act 2008 or the National Pensions Reserve Fund Act 2000. AIB was one of those bailed out by the Irish tax…

That is not what this is about. This is about allowing for bonuses to be paid to an Irish-owned institution that was bailed out. AIB will own this entity 100% but AIB was bailed out with nearly €21 billion. Will the Minister enlighten the Dáil as to what is the average bonus paid to a senior wealth manager in Goodbody? Would he be surprised, for example, if I told him it was €400,000 to €500,000? Is that what the Minister has signed off on or is it something less? Will he tell us what he has signed off on because t…

I appreciate this. The question is about whether the Minister will extend the exemption on green diesel from the increase in carbon tax introduced in budget 2021. There is an extension whereby it will not come into effect until 1 May of this year, as a result of the dual issues of Brexit and the pandemic. These issues have not been resolved but there are also serious issues in terms of the fairness of the tax. We want to hear the views of the Minister on it.

The Minister will appreciate that the agricultural sector is going through very challenging times as a result of Brexit and, like many other sectors, the pandemic. He is also aware that as he introduced the budget, despite the fact this issue was postponed until 1 May there was quite a backlash from the agricultural sector with regard to this increase. These are people who care for the land very much but have seen this increase as a way of picking their pockets. Many people, particularly in communities such as mine…

The Minister is aware that farm contractors are not able to claim back the double income tax reliefs that farmers do. He is aware of this because he previously stated he would consider looking into it. Has he considered this matter? Is he aware that, for example, the association of farm contractors has made it clear that the costs involved are in the region of €13,455 per annum per contractor? They state they will have no option but to pass this on to the individual farmers for whom they work. This is why the issue…

I wish to ask the Minister what engagements he has had with mortgage lenders regarding applicants who have not been able to draw down their mortgage. I refer to individuals who have conditions that may make them more susceptible to adverse outcomes if they contract Covid-19. They are not being provided with mortgage protection insurance. In some cases, they have paid a deposit for a house. They have been pre-approved for a loan from the bank but the bank is not letting them draw down that loan. What engagement has …

I thank the Minister for that and ask that he would also raise it in his engagements with the insurance industry. Indeed, some of the banks own some of the insurance companies providing mortgage protection insurance. Bank of Ireland, for example, has its own insurance company, which is not providing mortgage protection cover to anybody who had symptoms of Covid-19 over the past three months. It is putting those applications on hold for at least a month. The provision in section 126 exists for a reason. It does not …

I appreciate that. My last point may be a matter more specifically for the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. The banks can give exemptions. We all know why they want this protection and rightly so but the insurance industry needs to look at its policies now, particularly with regard to people who have diabetes. This is the most prevalent issue in the cases coming into our offices. If a person has diabetes, many of the providers are putting his or her application on hold, some for six months and others, such as Roy…

Feicimid go bhfuil sonraí foilsithe ag "RTÉ Investigates" maidir le bailiúchán sonraithe de chuid na Roinne Sláinte ar pháiste a raibh uathachas agus míchumais fhoghlamtha eile orthu le smál a chur orthu agus ar a gcuid teaghlach. Bhí na teaghlaigh sin ag troid trí na cúirteanna agus le modhanna eile chun seirbhísí mar is ceart a fháil dá gcuid páistí. Tá an scéal seo scanrúil agus mí-eiticiúil. Is náire é gur tharla sé agus tá ceisteanna le freagairt ag an Rialtas maidir leis. Cad a bhí ar eolas aige agus cén uair…

This practice has been ongoing for well over a decade and the Tánaiste's response is inadequate. The Department of Health has stated this is normal practice. How could it be normal practice for psychiatric reports with intimate details of a family's situation where a child has autism to be shared with the Department of Health without the consent or knowledge of the parents? How could it be normal practice for a video of a child in a most vulnerable position to be held in the Department of Health to be accessed by a…

This morning Ulster Bank was fined almost €38 million for its role in the tracker mortgage scandal, a scandal that affected nearly 6,000 customers of Ulster Bank that we know of. Part of the Central Bank's finding was that Ulster Bank devised and implemented a deliberate strategy not to provide certain customers with their correct tracker mortgage entitlement. That means it devised and implemented a strategy to overcharge customers thousands of euro to which the bank was legally not entitled. In layman's terms, it …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021. I will be focusing on sections 30 and 31, which pertain to the new personal injuries guidelines. Lé rófhada, tá na comhlachtaí árachais ag glacadh lámh ar chustaiméirí maidir le costais aráchais. Tá a fhios againn uilig sin. Tá seo ag tarlú in ainneoin go bhfuil costais éilimh ag titim. Tá costais éilimh ag titim anois mar gheall ar an reachtaíocht seo agus mar gheall ar na treorlínte úra seo. Beidh na comhlachtaí árachai…

Ar an 6 Márta thug Comhairle na mBreithiúna tacaíocht do na treoirlínte úra atá le leibhéil na ndámhachtainí i gcásanna díobhálacha pearsanta a ísliú. Beidh éifeacht aige seo ar chomhlachtaí árachais agus beidh ísliú i ndán maidir le costais éilimh. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil buntáiste anseo do chustaiméirí. Lé rófhada tá na comhlachtaí árachais ag glacadh lámh ar chustaiméirí maidir le costais árachais agus caithfidh stad iomlán a theacht air seo anois. Caithfidh na treoirlínte úra seo costais árachais a ísliú do…

With respect, the Tánaiste obviously does not know how insurance works because he just gave the line of the insurance industry when he said that there will be a lag period and that reductions will happen but will take a while to work through. I quoted for the Tánaiste what the representatives of the insurance industry had told us. Let me quote those words again. The representatives said that, "when we price insurance, and we are pricing insurance for the next 12 months, we have to set out our premium on the basis o…

In 2014, almost 14,000 people were brought before the courts for not paying their TV licence fees. In the previous year, 411 of those people were sent to prison for not paying their TV licence fees. A constituent of mine, a single mother, had the Garda call to her door and she was brought to Mountjoy Prison during this period for not having a TV licence. In the same year, the Davy 16 got together and formed a consortium for the sole purpose of swindling that company's client out of money. They were breaking the rul…

Ní hamháin go bhfuil fadhbanna ann maidir leis an roll-amach den vacsaín ach tá fadhbanna níos mó ná sin. Thug an tAire Sláinte gealltanas go mbeadh an vacsaín acu siúd atá os cionn 85 bliana d’aois roimh dheireadh na seachtaine seo ach tá a fhios againn anois nach bhfuil sin ag dul a tharlú. Tá dochtúirí ginearálta faoi bhrú mar go n-inseofar do chuid acu go mbeidh an vacsaín ag teacht ar lá faoi leith agus ní tharlaíonn sin. Ansin bíonn ar na dochtúirí teaghlaigh seo na céadta scairteacha gutháin a dhéanamh agus …

That is a very disappointing response from the Tánaiste. I will make the point that the only person playing politics here is the Tánaiste. There is a very genuine argument and rationale for having some priority for family carers. There is no priority for them at all at the moment. They fall into the general population priority of age groups. I know many of these family carers. Some of them are very close to me. Do not tell me that I am playing politics with this when I know the risks associated with this. Some of t…