John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to return to a comment that was made on the insurance industry, the costs of insurance and how prices have fallen. I have been reading commentary to that effect in the media and I have to say that I would not make a blanket statement like that. I still hear complaints from individuals and, indeed, some companies to the effect that there has been no change in insurance costs. They read these headlines in the newspaper about a drop in insurance premiums with disbelief because the evidence is that the people who are seeking insurance cover are those who have it and are renewing it. There are enormous changes in pricing, but they are all upwards. In most of the cases that I have been dealing with, the insurance premium has gone up, not down. I do not know from where people are getting their facts because the information that comes before this committee clearly shows that it is a mixed bag, and that a simple statement that prices are falling is simply untrue.