Pearse Doherty TD says he is outraged that the Government review on the cost of insurance set up by the Minister for Finance will only meet for the first time next week and then not again until September.
Deputy Doherty said this news summed up the failure of government to grasp the importance and urgency of the insurance cost crisis.
The Donegal Deputy said he is extremely frustrated to hear from the Minister that this working group looking at the core issue of the reasons for the dramatic increases will only have its first meeting next week before taking a break until September.
He said “This issue has been the focus of political and more importantly public anger for many months now and was the subject of a Dáil motion including a Sinn Féin amendment that won all party support last month. It is shocking that next week will be the first meeting of this review. For drivers seeking insurance over the summer the message is ‘you’re on your own’.
“I am concerned too that there is still no time frame for the work on the reasons for the insurance increases to be completed in. It is clear that there is no understanding from government about the urgency of this issue and the anger it is causing.
“I do welcome confirmation that, following the passing of the Dáil motion on this issue and my amendment to it, the scope of the review has been broadened. I presume this means the role of the Central Bank will now be reviewed as my accepted amendment explicitly called for.
“I look forward to examining the other work on related issues that has been carried out including on flood insurance and the compensation framework including the fallout of the Setanta case. However, the primary focus must be on getting to the root causes of the increases faced day in, day out by drivers and putting a plan in place to stop the rip off. It is time to stop skirting around the issue and actually deal with it.”
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