Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. The working group is set up and doing what it does. It is made up of officials in various Departments, including those dealing with tourism, justice, jobs, finance, the Central Bank and claims. We are kind of in the loop but out of the loop in that they are all doing their stuff at meetings and between meetings. We kind of get involved somewhere along the way but it is not really our job to do the activity of the working group. They are doing that stuff. I would like some of what I mention to be investigated by the working group.

The logic seems to be that premiums must rise to pay for the increased cost and volume of claims. I would like to see the percentage of motorists making claims and the size of claims broken down into legal, medical, compensation and settlement costs. I agree with everything said by members so far in that we do not know what is going on. Much of it is invisible because of settlements. One hears anecdotal stories of insurance company representatives hanging around courts and realising that a certain judge is not there and a different judge, who may tend to give higher payouts, is there instead. That may lead to a doubling of settlements because the company could still save money in comparison with what might have to be paid if the case went to court. There is talk of a book of quantum but, although it is nice, they apparently do not have to use it. I am intrigued by the value of it and whether it can be ignored when it suits.

I would like to see the average cost of claims, the age profile of claimants and whether urban or rural parts of the country have a higher incidence of claims than other areas. Ultimately, we can try to reduce the cost and number of claims while improving driver behaviour. We have all been driving at the speed limit on motorways while seeing plenty of cars going past us. In England and other jurisdictions there are average speed detectors: for example, a car might be clocked on at the Jack Lynch tunnel and clocked off at the Red Cow, and if the car gets from A to B too fast, a penalty is imposed for breaking the law.

I went pretty much all over the country during the Seanad campaign and I did not see many Garda vehicles. We know the number of gardaí in the traffic corps is down. People are taking chances and ultimately we end up with claims and injuries because of people not behaving as they should. There was a reference to technology.

There must be a way in this day and age of tracking every car in the country. We all have mobile phones and the companies know where we are. Every car could have technology to record average and maximum speed as we drive through towns. In five or ten years that could be in place and perhaps the technology already exists. A sensor on the car should alert the driver to slow as it is entering a zone with a limit of 50 km/h or 60 km/h.

Why is whiplash in this country so different from everywhere else? As a nation, why are our necks or bodies far more sensitive than every other country in Europe? There was a reference to paying for care, not cash, and I agree there are concerns about legal costs becoming medical costs. It seems that insurance companies are just paying out rather large amounts to settle a whiplash claim just because somebody said he or she had it. That is without any serious investigation as to whether the problem is real. It seems it is cheaper to give people €15,000 than to investigate the issue properly. One might wonder why an accident involving a tiny tip would lead to this.

We have a better theory test, provisional licences and improvements on what we used to have. Driver behaviour should be getting better. People and their cars are getting older and yet their premiums are rising. I know a person who reached the age of 80 and the insurance premium went from €800 to €1,360. That person does not drive too many miles and although the premium was reduced somewhat with negotiation, that 70% increase was just presented to the person. Most people in this room are probably paying a third more for their insurance. If the average rise is 36%, most people in the room will be paying more despite not having a claim. I want to know if the issue lies with 2%, 5%, 15% or 40% of drivers making claims in the past year. We must have far more information on what we are told is driving the cost. Private companies will always have a responsibility to shareholders and, in the current set-up, will want to make a fair return. There is the idea that we can just increase motor insurance by 30% this year - we fear it will be 30% next year and the year after - but our road network is better than it used to be and drivers have more screening than they used to have. It is not the case that somebody driving for ten or 20 years is just given a licence because of a backlog, as happened a long time ago.

The working group must present far more data to us. I am not referring to individuals or bringing privacy to this but I want to know who is claiming, what they are getting and why they are getting it. We are a small country, and compared with most other EU countries we have a very small motoring population. We cannot be the only country in the world with a motor insurance issue. Let us have a look at international best practice and see why we cannot be as good as the better countries in terms of motor insurance cost. I look forward to working with the Minister of State and the working group, as well as other stakeholders, in this process.