Nobody, least of all the Government, can claim to be surprised by the findings of the survey of insurance costs for business published yesterday by ISME, the lobby group for small firms.
The difficulties faced by these businesses can be tracked back to the collapse last year of Independent Insurance, a UK insurer which brought a certain element of welcome competition to the Irish market. The events of September 11th only compounded the problem.
What yesterday's survey has highlighted is that insurance is in effect a tax on jobs. The finding that one in five companies linked increased insurance premiums to job losses is disturbing, even allowing for the ad hoc nature of the survey and the clearly partisan agenda of ISME.
Spiralling insurance costs have the same impact on employment prospects as rises in Employers' PRSI and other taxes. The Government has vowed to hold down these taxes, but is not acting in a determined way to address the spiralling cost of insurance.
Self interest could also be expected to push the item up the Cabinet's agenda when it returns from the summer break. Companies will simply cancel or reduce their insurance cover if the costs become uneconomic. Ultimately this will leave third parties out- -of-pocket and they will waste no time looking to the Government for compensation. Rising unemployment also directly hits the exchequer purse.
The failure of the Government to really engage with this issue is puzzling. There is no shortage of ideas and proposals about what could be done to bring down insurance costs.
All sides - bar the legal profession - are in favour of a Personal Injuries Assessment Board which would take the lottery element out of personal injuries awards; a year since the Government announced its intention to set up such a body, the legislation has yet to appear.
The recommendations of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board are a blueprint for what should be done in the area of commercial insurance and many of the proposals would bring down insurance costs across the board. This report is now in the hands of an "implementation group". It remains to be seen whether this group can live up to its name, or will merely act as an excuse for further delay.
The cost of not addressing this issue is now apparent and some concrete solutions have been identified. There is no excuse for further inaction.