Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for attending this discussion. The other Deputies have covered the main issues but I would like to lend my support to the 75,000 policyholders of Setanta Insurance Company Limited who have been at least inconvenienced and, in a great many cases, are out of pocket as a result of the collapse of the firm. What assistance is available from the State to them in the context of the Insurance Compensation Fund, ICF to deal with outstanding claims which were not concluded by the firm prior to going into liquidation? What is the position of people who recently renewed their policies and who face the prospect of having to take out a new policy to ensure they have continuity of cover? People who have a Setanta policy are legally covered under the Road Traffic Acts in the sense that they have insurance but the policy may not be of any value if an accident happens.

This raises a broader question as to how many similar companies operate in Ireland but are not regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland. Many people have not drawn this distinction. If they take out insurance in this country, they assume that the insurance provider is regulated by the Central Bank and is not merely regulated in another EU jurisdiction and regulated here for conduct of business purposes. We need at least to scope the extent of this problem.

What will be the impact of banking union and the single supervisory mechanism on the future regulation of the insurance sector on a pan-European basis?

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