The Irish insurance market is "dangerously close to a monopoly", with just two companies prepared to take on new business in the general liability area, the Oireachtas committee investigating the sector heard yesterday.
The news came on the same day that Diamond Engineering in Co Limerick cited rising insurance costs as one of the reasons for its decision to close with the loss of 117 jobs.
Mr John Hogan of the Professional Insurance Brokers' Association told the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business that, of the five key players in the industry, only AXA and Hibernian were genuinely open to new liability business.
He said the other three - Allianz, Eagle Star and Royal & SunAlliance - were either extremely selective or only open to renewals.
"The general insurance market is dangerously close to a monopoly situation," he warned.
Replying to questions from the committee, Mr Hogan's colleague, Mr Derek Fitzgerald, said it was nearly impossible to find reasonable alternatives outside the jurisdiction.
"We continually place business with Lloyds," he said. "But the problem is that when they see it coming from the Republic, they double and sometimes treble their premiums because they know it can't be placed here."
Mr Paul Kavanagh of the Irish Brokers' Association (IBA) rejected claims by some committee members that brokers do not meet their legal obligations to get the lowest possible quote for clients. He argued that the business was "very competitive".
However, he said that conditions made the Republic unattractive for new entrants.
In its submission, the IBA said that implementing the Motor Insurance Advisory Board recommendations and reforming the legal system would make the State more attractive to insurers.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) estimated that more than 2,400 building workers could have been injured on building sites last year. The number of construction site accidents reported to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) was 1,185. But ICTU official Mr Fergus Whelan estimated that less than half of all building site accidents were reported.
He challenged employer groups' claims that the Republic had the lowest rate of workplace accidents in Europe, saying that these were based on flawed statistics.
His colleague, Mr Eric Fleming, said that there was just one safety inspector for every 33,000 Irish workers, compared with ratios of 15,000 to one in the Netherlands and 20,000 to one in Britain.
He said that a cut in resources meant that the HSA could only carry out 4,000 inspections this year - half its target of 8,000.
