Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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120. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will work with the Minister for Finance to ensure that legislation is brought forward to reduce insurance costs for businesses in view of the crippling cost of business insurance. [20398/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government states:

“Insurance costs are a hugely significant issue for businesses, motorists, households and a range of sporting, community, and voluntary groups. We need to ensure that insurance acts as a safety net that enables our economy and our society to fully function. Addressing high claim pay-outs and competitive issues will be critical in building an insurance system that is affordable and reliable and which underpins a vibrant economy.”

Apart from motor insurance, which falls under the remit of the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, policy responsibility for insurance is a matter for the Minister for Finance. However, many of the measures that need to be taken fall under the remit of different Ministers, and it must be acknowledged that there is no one individual policy or legislative change that will, on its own, solve the issue of insurance availability and affordability.

I have already convened meetings with Ministerial colleagues, including the Minister for Finance and the Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, to progress cross-governmental action on insurance reform. As part of this, along with five Ministerial colleagues, met with the Alliance for Insurance Reform who raised a range of issues including the level of awards for general damages, the application of the duty of care, insurance fraud and COVID-19 related insurance issues.

I will continue to work with my colleague the Minister for Finance, as well as other Ministerial colleagues to deliver the Programme for Government commitments on insurance reform.