The Government has been accused of treating motorcycle clubs such as Faugheen 50 club in Tipperary as second class citizens.
The Carrick club like other across the island if Ireland are facing uncertainty with regard to holding road racing events this year due to problems with insurance.
The matter was raised in the Dáil this week by Deputy Mattie McGrath who pointed out that the likes of greyhound racing and horse racing have received significant support from the government.
“There are very many valuable and entertaining races held all over the country here. And what is the difference between horse racing and greyhound racing and everything else? These are being treated like second class citizens.
“There’s a huge spin-off for the businesses involved, for the areas involved and indeed bike enthusiasts spend their own money – that they pay tax on tyres, on engines and parts.
“This season is about to start and I’m asking you to intervene to assist them to get insurance as they always had.
“They’re ran in a safe manner, well policed and well organised and bring huge benefits to the local areas.”
The annual races in the village of Faugheen are scheduled for July 15th and 16th this year.
Minister of State at the Department of Finance Jennifer Carroll MacNeill responded in the Dáil to Deputy McGrath saying the Department of Justice is introducing legislation in the coming weeks to change the public liability aspect of insurance for community events.
“The Department has been working with insurance companies to identify niche points of difficulty where people haven’t been able to access insurance.
“Where there are community events working with Local Authorities there may be an appetite in the future to increase risk profiling to be able to do that.
“But I think the most important thing is the implementation of the action plan for insurance reform which the government has been doing and to make sure that the reductions in the awards issued by PIAB are met and set and sticky with the legal profession because that impacts everybody’s ability to get insurance.”
