Insurance rescue fund must be used, says TD

MORE that €23m lying idle in the PMPA rescue fund should be utilised to prevent hundreds of Irish companies going out of business because of spiralling insurance costs, a Mayo TD said yesterday.

And in a bid to highlight problems associated with rocketing insurance premiums the managing director of ECM Systems, in Ballina, Alex Corcoran closed his business for a day yesterday.

Fine Gael spokesperson on social and family affairs Michael Ring, TD, said the 23m euro PMPA surplus should be used to either subsidise small firms to cover insurance premiums, or preferably be used as seed capital to establish a state-owned insurance firm to provide much need competition in the Irish insurance market.