Mr. Conor Faughnan:

On other European Union countries, it is difficult to do a like for like comparison because customers do not always take out insurance against the same thing. In some countries, for example, in cases involving a catastrophic injury, the cost of long-term care for the individual in question and whatever other costs arise are socialised. Given that these costs must be paid in any case, it is merely a question of how it is paid. However, if one has a model in which the state's health service picks up this cost, which is fine, this cost does not need to be paid for by private motor insurance. As the same things are not being insured, it is difficult to have a meaningful like for like comparison for a unit of motor insurance in Ireland versus Sweden, for example.

Unfortunately, the United Kingdom is the country that best mirrors the position in Ireland. I use the word "unfortunately" because it may appear lazy to only look at the neighbours. Moreover, the UK also has problems in the insurance industry. As I indicated, I would not hold it up as an example of best practice.

The Deputy also asked whether there had been anything in our claims frequency in the past couple of years that would mark us out as different from other European jurisdictions. There appears to be evidence that the total number of catastrophic crashes and material damage injuries have not changed significantly in Ireland, whereas the total number of minor injury claims has increased significantly.