That is not on.

A Cheann Comhairle, the arrangements are not agreed.

You did not ask for a vote.

We are talking about people who may be attacked in the next while. All we are asking for is a bit of flexibility.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the Government have failed to end the rip-off when it comes to insurance costs; — the increasing cost of motor insurance is putting many people under severe pressure in a cost-of-living crisis; — the cost of motor insurance has increased at more than four times the general rate of inflation; — people are now facing health insurance costs of roughly €2,000 every year, affecting almost 2.5 million people in this State, many of whom were already struggling to afford to keep the…

We produced legislation, for God's sake.

We wrote the law.

More profits for the companies; well done. None of it has been passed onto consumers.

I thank everybody who spoke in support of the motion. The Government does not have an amendment down. I do not know whether it is opposing the motion or whether it does not have any solutions. The one thing on which I will agree with the Minister of State is that, as he said, what he and the Government are doing is yielding results. He is absolutely spot on. The Government has made bumper profits for the insurance industry, which is absolutely creaming it while sticking the two fingers up to consumers, and indeed t…

Of course I did not. When you go on the phone and start telling them this, that and the other, you get it reduced. Not everybody is doing that, however, and it should not be-----

The Minister of State had his speak. It should not be the policy of the Government that you should shop around. The job of government is to defend consumers. What has happened here-----

-----is as we and the Alliance for Insurance Reform told the Government, that unless it got a commitment from the industry, the industry would pocket the reforms. That is exactly what has happened. What we have got from this industry - and the Minister of State is absolutely blind to this, as is his Government - are bumper profits. These were reforms I championed, legislation I drafted and got passed in this House and cases I brought to the Central Bank to ban some of the conduct that was there. The industry told u…

In motor insurance, it is 8%. The Minister of State talks about Britain. Does he know what has happened there? Does he know what the ABI says about the 28,000 motor insurance policies it looks at every year? It has told us just in recent weeks that insurance has fallen 10%. What has happened under the Government's watch here? An 11.5% increase. People are getting ripped off left, right and centre and the Minister of State stands there reading scripts that the insurance industry would be proud of - that it probably …

Agreed.

Tá.

Why?

Vótáil. Why? You want to keep the rip-off going, is that it? What bit did you not agree with?

Can I make a point of order? My party leader has written to the Ceann Comhairle and the leaders of the Government parties. We tried to introduce an urgent motion to condemn the attack on the flotilla. As the Minister knows, there are 20 Irish citizens on board the flotilla trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza. They are in international waters. It includes one of our colleagues, Senator Chris Andrews, whose boat has been fired upon on four occasions by Israeli drones. This is so urgent that the Italian and Spani…

I appreciate that. What I would welcome in the Government’s response is an indication that it would be happy for such a resolution to come before us. We will work on the wording of the resolution with the Government. This should not go unpassed. We should not go into recess this evening when there are citizens in international waters being attacked by Israel through drones, including one of our own colleagues, Senator Chris Andrews. I ask the Government to say it is supportive of that. As I said, I welcomed the wor…

The Minister will be well aware that in our alternative budget last year we argued that energy credits of €450 should be brought forward. The Government brought forward energy credits of €250. The Minister listed off various measures. As I said earlier, I am not taking away from those measures but what I am telling him is that things have got worse. The reality is that regardless of whether he believes he has protected people, there are more households than ever before - over 300,000 - that cannot pay their electri…