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

The core point missing from the picture is the insurance figures produced by the Central Bank showing the profits year by year. For those insurance companies with headquarters in Ireland, the profit on motor insurance over 20 years is €2.86 billion. That is a lot of money and a very profitable industry. It is a return on premiums of approximately 12%, which is high by, for example, UK standards. Is that money coming out of the pockets of young or older drivers? Is it coming from all of these policyholders? We pay the people Insurance Ireland represents a significant profit over 20 years. That went down over recent years but I suspect it is back up again. The industry is attempting to restore profitability because of bad investment decisions, which are the mistake of the companies represented by Insurance Ireland, on the back of massive hikes in premiums. That is the fundamental driver for the 70% increase.