Oct 7, 2020
Today, October 7th, the Federation of Irish Sport accepted an invitation from the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and An Gaeltacht to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on sporting organisations and mass participation events. It was a welcome opportunity to highlight the significant challenges facing a sector that generates €2.7bn in consumer spending each year and employs some 39,500 people.
The impact of COVID-19 has been devastating for clubs and their governing bodies for many reasons, including significant financial losses of up to 70%, reduced provision of programmes and initiatives for participation and cancellation of seasons, leagues and events. Today was an opportunity to illustrate examples of such loss and emphasis the importance of continued government support for the sector building on the previously welcomed €70 support package announced in June.
It also provided a further platform to illustrate our pre-budget asks of government in advance of the publication of the 2021 budget on October 13th. At today’s hearing the Federation reiterated the importance of the National Sports Policy and it’s target trajectory over the next 7 years. The Federation’s single biggest ask is that government continue to deliver on their commitment to incrementally double funding for sport by 2027. While the challenge of COVID-19 has been immense for many organisations, is it essential that the long term future of the sport sector is protected and invested in in order to deliver a brighter future for all who engage with it. While the sector must survive COVID-19 in order to thrive long into the future, commitment by government to build on progress made prior to the pandemic is vital.
Speaking after the committee meeting, Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor said,
‘We are pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee today and highlight some of the significant challenges facing our member organisations as they look towards 2021. While COVID-19 has been devastating in 2020, we are also concerned about what 2021 will bring for a sector that relies so heavily on mass participation and bringing people together to take part. We have stressed the importance of continued COVID related supports to build on the government support package of June but we have also demonstrated the need for a continued and sustained increase in funding for sporting organisations. It is essential that core funding is maintained so that when this pandemic begins to retreat, our organisations are ready to build on the very successful position they held heading into 2020 and continue to provide invaluable opportunities for individuals to become healthier, more active members of our society.”
The Federation of Irish Sport’s full budget submission can be found at: https://www.irishsport.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Pre-Budget-Submission-2021.pdf
For further information contact sinead.conroy@irishsport.ie
Oct 7, 2020
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has today launched the second in a series of infographics summarising key facts about the Irish insurance market.
Key new insights from the infographic include:
- Compensation accounts for 42% of the total cost of insurance premiums – by far the biggest component
- Lawyers fees, underwriters profits and brokers’ commissions extract roughly equal amounts from premiums
- Lawyers are the massive winners when a case goes to the courts. Policyholders do not gain from threatening to go to court.
- Insurers have been the big winners from the current crisis, as claims costs held steady but premiums shot up by 42%
Linda Murray, Director of the Alliance and owner of Huckleberry’s Den play centre in Navan said “The figures make it clear that compensation payments are at the heart of our problem. Damages are by far the biggest component of insurance premiums and are a facilitator for every other element, including solicitor’s fees, insurer profitability and brokers’ commissions. General damages for minor fully-recovered injuries must be dramatically reduced. Responsibility for this task is currently with the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council and the Committee is supposed to present draft guidelines to the Board of the Judicial Council by the 28th October. These guidelines are intended to replace the current Book of Quantum. We have installed a countdown clock on the Alliance’s website counting down to that date and we very much look forward to seeing the judiciary reflect the common good in their deliberations. Policyholders cannot wait any longer. We expect general damages for minor injuries to be dramatically reduced along the lines of the Fair Book of Quantum published by ISME.””
Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance said “The analysis in this infographic is intended to add clarity to a crisis that has lacked many real data insights up to now. The lack of clarity has suited attempts by insurers and solicitors to muddy the waters as they fight to protect their massive profits. The analysis was made possible by the publication of the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database on Private Motor Insurance and we are grateful to the Central Bank for this. But the Central Bank now needs to publish equivalent liability insurance data without any further delay. Insurance reform cannot be directed or measured without data.”
END
Link to Infographic: https://insurancereform.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/AIR-INFOGRAPHIC-No.2-FINAL.pdf
Please contact us if you want a .PDF or .JPG of the infographic
CONTACT:
Peter Boland
Oct 7, 2020
The World Transplant Games Federation, committed to promoting sports and physical activity in the transplant community, recently launched their BILLION steps challenge. They invite YOU to join their ambitious goal to collectively walk to the moon and back!
For more information click here: https://www.wtgf.org/Billion-steps-challenge
How to sign up:
- Click on the link below to download the app https://link.movespring.com/join?groupCode=M7NE4E&orgCode=wtgf20
- Enter the code WTGF20 to be allocated to the Challenge and then sign up with an email address and a Username.
- It’ll ask how you’re going to measure your steps (smart phone app, smart watch, etc.). Once you’ve signed up, go to the dashboard and set up a team or join a team. Teams can have up to 5 members.
- The goodness with the challenge is that it is not only steps that count – other activities can be converted to steps so swimmers, cyclists, etc. can join in! https://movespring.com/resources/activity-converter
Oct 7, 2020
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has welcomed its latest member, Volunteer Ireland.
Volunteer Ireland is the national volunteer development organisation and a support body for all local Volunteer Centres and Volunteering Information Services in Ireland.
Nina Arwitz, CEO of Volunteer Ireland said “Insurance is creating a huge barrier to volunteering in Ireland. Many organisations that involve volunteers are struggling to secure insurance for their volunteer programmes or face prohibitive insurance costs. Over 1 million people in Ireland volunteer each year, and it’s no exaggeration to say that Ireland relies on volunteers to deliver vital services in areas such as homelessness, youth work, animal welfare, environmental protection, social equality, care for elderly and health. The challenges around insurance present a real threat that many organisations working in these areas will not be able to survive, which would have huge negative consequences for our society.”
Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance said “While we warmly welcome Volunteer Ireland to our Alliance, it is frustrating that an organisation so important for the fabric of our society feels obliged to join us. Insurance should not be on their agenda, particularly at the moment. We call on the Government to urgently accelerate the pace of insurance reform so that Volunteer Ireland can focus on driving the recovery of Ireland’s volunteering infrastructure from COVID19.
”In particular, we ask that they prioritise the following real reforms:
1. Reduce unfair general damages to reflect international norms and the principles already established by the higher courts – including that ‘minor injuries attract modest damages’
2. Review and re-balance the “common duty of care” to require occupiers to take a duty of care that is reasonable, practical and proportionate
3. Support a fully-resourced Garda Insurance Fraud Unit
4. Insist on insurers committing to a schedule of forecast reductions for planned reforms
The Alliance now brings together 39 civic and business organisations from across Ireland, representing over 55,000 members, 670,000 employees, 599,000 volunteers and 374,000 students in highlighting the negative impact of persistently high premiums and calling for real reforms that will quickly reduce liability and motor insurance premiums to affordable levels and keep them that way.
ENDS
Contact: contact@insurancereform.ie
Oct 1, 2020
Clubforce hosts weekly webinars aimed at making the life of club volunteers easier with regular sessions covering club membership management, fundraising and club lotto, communications and other topics. Now we are introducing a new session type into the mix to help coaches and club managers to improve how their clubs and teams are run.
The Club Management webinar series will be hosted by Shelbourne FC manager Ian Morris and will focus on various aspects of running a successful football club and is open to coaches and volunteers from any football club at any level to attend. (Other sports are also welcome and much of the content will benefit other team sports). Some of the topics to expect at these sessions:
- Planning training sessions
- Club Structure
- Communicating with parents
This session will be held fortnightly on a Wednesday night at 8pm (starting 7th October) and the recording can be accessed on the Clubforce website at any stage afterwards. This first session is open to coaches, coaching co-ordinators and other volunteers involved in training football teams and will cover planning training sessions including:
– The aim / theme of the training session
– Session set-up and layout
– How to best use limited resources of space and time with the numbers involved
– Health and safety
– Questions from attendees
This is your opportunity to put your club management and coaching questions to an experience professional football coach!
For more info and to register visit https://clubforce.com/news/club-management-with-ian-morris/
Sep 30, 2020
The Alliance for Insurance Reform has welcomed the publication of the Law Reform Commission’s Report on Capping Damages in Personal Injuries Actions.
Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance said “We welcome the timely publication of this important Report. Right now the Report changes nothing in that new draft guidelines on general damages are due to be submitted to the Board of the Judicial Council by the 28th October. But on the other hand it clearly endorses a ‘Plan B’ – the capping of damages by the Oireachtas – if the Judicial Council does not fully reflect the common good in urgently delivering the dramatic reductions in damages for minor injuries necessary if we are to address our current insurance crisis in any meaningful way”.
Eoin McCambridge, Director of the Alliance and Managing Director of McCambridge’s of Galway said “Small businesses, voluntary groups, charities, sports clubs and cultural organisations, the heart of the Irish economy and Irish society, are being seriously damaged by the cost of insurance or in numerous cases now unable to obtain insurance at all. As the Personal Injuries Commission clearly identified, sky-high general damages are at the heart of this issue and must be cut to reflect international norms to ensure that legitimate minor injuries attract modest damages. Policyholders cannot wait any longer for dramatic, meaningful reductions in awards for minor injuries. The Alliance expects general damages for minor injuries to be reduced along the lines of the Fair Book of Quantum published by ISME.”
ENDS
NOTE: Responsibility for reviewing guidelines for general damages to replace the Book of Quantum is currently with the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council and the Committee is due to present draft guidelines to the Board of the Judicial Council by the 28th October. We have installed a countdown clock on our website counting down to that date.
CONTACT: contact@insurancereform.ie
