Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That was a robust presentation outlining the company's presence in the market. It is welcome that we have at least one indigenous motor insurer. It is, perhaps, a reflection on the Irish insurance market that we only have one surviving indigenous operator and a number of multinationals. There are probably much fewer participants in the market now than was the case previously. Much of that goes back to transparency, and representatives of Insurance Ireland have appeared before the committee, in terms of the databases and the data that exist.

From our point of view it is very difficult to see what is happening. We see many claims being settled. Mr. McMahon spoke about fighting fraud. What percentage of claims FBD Insurance receives in all categories, but particularly motor insurance and public liability, are rejected? How many are fought and lost? Obviously, many cases are legitimate. They are what they are and there is fault. I do not know if Mr. McMahon saw the earlier session with members of the Alliance for Insurance Reform and ISME. Various people were here. The Alliance for Insurance Reform represents restaurants, publicans, small businesses and many people. I am sure Mr. McMahon has engaged with them.

There was a particular focus this morning on play centres, the play centre industry and the broader play centre activity park and the like. Our guests at the earlier session stated that their industry has paid money to insurers. It was not FBD Insurance because they stated that most of their business has to refer to the UK because nobody here will insure them. They have paid in €5 million. There are reserves of €800,000 against claims and only €200,000 has been paid out in the last five years. By any measure, it appears to be a profitable industry. Why will FBD Insurance not consider that, or will it? There are play centres, activity centres, places for people to go for birthday parties and places for children's activities closing down in many towns. One lady is in Navan and has the only one left, but she will have to close after 12 years in business. She has seen her insurance premiums rocket. Mr. McMahon might have heard a discussion on "Today with Sean O'Rourke" yesterday morning about play centres. Other people said their insurance premiums have gone from very small amounts to multiples of those. In one case it went from €6,000 to over €200,000. Phenomenal increases were mentioned, and I only heard a small part of the interview.

There is an existential crisis here for many industries. Representatives of marts appeared before the committee, and I am sure Mr. McMahon is very familiar with marts. It appears that this is the most health and safety conscious country in the world and certainly in the EU. If one goes to Brussels, Paris or elsewhere, there are holes in the ground and no fencing around them but if people fall into them it is their own fault. We seem to have put great emphasis on this. I am aware of a school that had no claims but its insurance bill increased from €27,000 to €34,000 on the basis that it was in a scheme and the scheme had ended. It was more or less a case of "You were getting it on the cheap for the last few years and we are going to ramp it up at the end of the term that was agreed".

We have a problem with insurance. I do not think the industry is doing enough to fight fraud. I am not referring to our guests in particular and I would like to hear any figures they have on that issue.

I also have a question about solvency. Is fraud leading to higher reserves? Are higher reserves causing higher premiums, profits and payouts? What would our guests do if they were on in our position? It is all very well to state that we want lower premiums, etc., but what three things would our guests would do if they were legislators and what requests would they make?