Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan, Brendan Smith, has echoed the calls from his party colleague and Finance spokesperson Michael McGrath TD who has called on the government to hold an emergency meeting with the insurance industry as Leisure Insure departs the Irish insurance market.
He explained, “UK-based Leisure Insure are specialists in providing insurance for sport, leisure and entertainment. It is my understanding that they are the only provider of insurance in Ireland for some parts of the leisure industry. With this provider gone jobs are at risk across Cavan-Monaghan.
“I have raised my concerns with the Minister for Finance. The insurance industry is in a state of chaos. Businesses, community events, and individuals cannot meet the soaring costs of insurance premiums.
“The Cost of Insurance Working Group was formed in 2016. Three years on changes have been slow to come around. A true reflection of this is that fact insurance costs are still rising. Like many crises, the government seem to be doing very little to resolve the problems.
“The government needs to hold an immediate crisis meeting with the insurance industry in light of this decision to find a way of ensuring that viable businesses can continue to access insurance cover at reasonable rates. Without such action the future of many leisure and activity-based businesses have an uncertain future,” concluded Deputy Brendan Smith.
