PARTY IS OVER FOR ‘RIP-OFF’ CAR INSURERS
New laws to slash premiums Minister wants itemised bills Crackdown on bogus claimers
NEW laws to cut the price of car insurance will be introduced if insurers refuse to cooperate with a Government bid to slash prices.
Junior Finance Minister Eoghan Murphy has also pledged that by year end unscrupulous solicitors and bogus claimers will no longer be able to ‘play the system’.
Speaking exclusively to the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mr Murphy said he has no qualms about ‘getting tough’ with dramatic measures to force the industry’s key players to cooperate. ‘Make no
PROPPED up against a wall in a grey-tinted office, located on the ground floor at the Government department most associated with men in grey suits, is a framed copy of American president Barack Obama’s history-making ‘Yes we can’ speech.
The gift to Eoghan Murphy at the Department of Finance stands out for two reasons:
First, its vibrant red-hued background sets it aside from the muted neutral and functional surroundings of the Merrion Street building where faceless civil servants toil away their days totting up the nation’s finances.
Secondly, visitors cannot but be struck by the notion that the optimistic words from the first African-American elected to the White House may either come back to haunt the enthusiastic and driven Minister of State – or else become his political epithet.
First elected to the Dáil in the 2011 general election as a TD for Dublin South-East, the grandson of the notorious accountant Russell Murphy – who swindled hundreds of thousands from the crème of Irish society, including broadcaster Gay Byrne and the late playwright Hugh Leonard back in the 1980s – was appointed a junior minister on his re-election to Leinster House earlier this year.
One of six children – five boys and one girl – his baby brother Cillian, who goes by the stage named Killian Scott, played the part of Tommy in the hit drama Love/ Hate.
His father is retired barrister Henry Murphy – whose crossexamination of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s former partner Celia Larkin at the Mahon Tribunal made him a household name.
The beauty salon owner prefaced each of her answers to his questions with ‘Yes, Henry’ or ‘No, Henry’ and, in the process, their exchanges became legendary.
Meanwhile, since being appointed as Minister of State for Financial Services, eGov and Procurement at the departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Mr Murphy has been tasked with overhauling the motor insurance industry to ensure drivers will pay a fraction of what they now pay to insure their cars.
It is a task that seems to consume most, if not all, of his waking hours to such an extent that – although he was part of the negotiating team that brokered a deal with the Independent Alliance to form the Government – he has been too busy to chat with Government colleague John Halligan about his ongoing political difficulties.
This week, the Waterford TD threatened to walk out of Government after an independent report concluded that a second catheterisation laboratory should not be built at Waterford hospital.
This led to a showdown, with the Independent Alliance TD accusing Fine Gaelers of being dishonourable.
The row dominated the headlines for much of the week, so when asked directly how he thinks Mr Halligan carries out his business, the Minister of State is surprisingly lost for words.
And when he does reply, minutes later, the straightforward question is answered with a question. Eventually, the articulate young politician recovers his composure by saying: ‘I haven’t had an opportunity to work with John in his role as Minister for State yet.
‘To be perfectly honest, I’m not at Cabinet and my only focus at this moment is the insurance issue and the Brexit stuff and, of course, the Apple stuff and that’s all I have being doing.’
But it would appear that there is little love between the pair as Mr Murphy then pointedly continues: ‘In terms of the Independent Alliance, I have a very good working relationship with them.
‘I would be in contact with some more than others, for example Sean Canney, Boxer Moran because of flooding and the OPW and the role that public expenditure had to play in terms of fixing some of the processes around procurement.
‘So I work very well with them. I have a better personal relationship with someone like Finian McGrath, who I would have got on very well with during the talks and we still get on well, so we would touch base on issues. ‘I would have been speaking to Shane Ross around the Apple stuff at the time because I was involved with that, of course, from the department point and that’s all working very well. ‘I heard he (Mr Halligan) said something about Michael Noonan being dishonourable, that’s unacceptable to me. ‘Michael Noonan is a man of the utmost integrity and dedication to this country, particularly to this Government – making sure our partnership with the Independent Alliance works – and so I would disagree profoundly with any of those kind of aspersions that would be made against him.
‘But again I haven’t had a chance to talk to John about it… I was in the negotiations, of course, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to John directly.
‘I see a snippet as I’m going between meetings and I say: “Oh, that’s unfair and it’s unacceptable in my view.”’
However, as the Government was teetering on the edge of collapse with Mr Halligan threatening to walk out of office, another political split story was also making headlines this week.
Wicklow TD Stephen Donnelly announced his departure from the Social Democrats where he was coleader with Dáil colleagues Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall.
And like all divorces, the fallout did not make for a pretty sight.
But it must surely be more than significant that Mr Murphy found the time to reach out to Mr Donnelly after his resignation, even though the Wicklow TD is not a member of the Government.
Mr Murphy said: ‘I’ve got a very good relationship with Stephen. I like him very much; we’ve talked about a load of issues over the last number of years.
‘He’s making a very important contribution to Irish politics. I think you saw that very recently in rela-
‘MIchael Noonan is a man of the utmost integrity’ ‘Stephen Donnelly made the right move’
tion to Section 110 companies and having highlighted that so well in the Dáil.
‘I thought it was very disappointing the way his former colleagues reacted and tried to paint him as someone who doesn’t work hard; he works incredibly hard. I was in touch with him when he left the party, just to say: “A brave move – but the right move – and good luck.” I, like Boxer, have an open door to everyone in terms of trying to get work done across the parties but we have a very good relationship with the Independent Alliance and I think that’s going to maintain.’
Time will only tell. The only question is, who will be in the Independent Alliance?