Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have no problem at all with Deputy Sherlock’s intervention. Almost every commentator talked about the lack of clear data, the lack of explanation and the lack of visibility in terms of what is going on in the motor insurance sector. We can see the personal injuries information in the Injuries Board and we can see what is going through the courts system. That is only 30% of the overall amount of claims, so 70% of cases are settled and most people who appeared before the committee said they did not believe they had any great visibility on that. Are the witnesses saying that if one becomes a member of Insurance Ireland, one gets access to that information or is it available to the public through the Central Bank figures? Many of us, including me, asked what questions other witnesses wanted us to put to Insurance Ireland. They wanted to know the number of claims, the average cost of the claims and therefore the total amount of claims that are being settled because if the Injuries Board claims are not increasing in value year-on-year or are relatively stable and likewise in the courts – certainly not 70% increases – the explanation then must be, other than the Solvency II Directive or the reduction in investment income, that the rest of it is being picked up by a massive increase in the cost of the claims that are being settled. We do not appear to have any visibility on those figures. Is that visibility already there for us or is it only there if we sign up to the databases and join the organisation, or does it exist at all?