Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Insurance Ireland runs ads from time to time around the question of fraud. In some of them, the slogan it used contained the phrase "taking money from your pockets" and was very memorable. The evidence from witnesses who have come before the committee in the past week and a half indicates that what has been happening is a major campaign of spin on the part of the insurance industry. The Law Society called it a long-running and widespread campaign in which the industry sought to blame everybody but itself. The massive hikes in premiums have been the subject of a campaign of misdirection, away from the issue of profits and the drive to return to profitability and towards the issues of costs, in particular those related to claims, and fraud. In his opening statement, Mr. Thompson said, "Put simply, there are more motor insurance claims and they are costing more". He repeatedly gave that as the driving factor in the course of his contribution. The figures for 2015 do not illustrate that this was the driving factor. If there are increases of 70% in premium costs and increases in the cost of claims over the same period of 25%, that does not amount to a majority of 70%. He referenced independent sources such as the Injuries Board, the PIAB, but Mr. Conor O'Brien said in his presentation yesterday that the PIAB figures showed personal injury motor claims volumes and the average value of awards were static this year. The Injuries Board does not agree that claims are going up so how can Mr. Thompson stand over this idea? He has not produced any facts whatsoever to substantiate it.