Mr. James Coghlan:

Yes. Mr. Boland has spoken about how data are collected and how it appears from a motor perspective, I will refer to liability data that the CSO may or may not collect. I may be one of the random companies chosen so I am asked to fill in this form, the CSO annual services inquiry form, 2808B, annually. I have tried to put this on the agenda before but have failed so far. The form asks for the company's costs. One question is what is the firm's insurance cost as a global number. Say a firm's insurance premium is €10,000, within that there is a premium for motor, for assets, for property, a premium for employer liability, for public liability, consequential loss etc. The CSO should ask for a breakdown of the insurance figure as otherwise, the question is meaningless. Liability is the key number, it is the biggest cost in any premium. In the case of a manufacturing company, employer liability will be the most significant number. In a business where people are on the premises, public liability is the key number. If I was to be asked to give a breakdown of my insurance premium, if it was €10,000, I should be asked for my public liability premium. Then in another part of the form, to get the denominator for measuring the rate for public liability, one divides the premium into the sales figure. That can be compared internationally to see if Ireland is an outlier: we are. In the case of employer liability the actuarial formula is arrived at by dividing the premium into wages, which gives the rate. The CSO is not collecting these data. Either it does not understand the data or they do not want to collect them for whatever reason, maybe it does not think it is important. It is vitally important that we have the data.

The Alliance for Insurance Reform has its asks but ISME's approach is different. It reverts to Senator Kieran O'Donnell's question. There are three key issues of which the first is quantum. My colleague, Mr. McDonnell referred to several issues relating to legal reform, including reform of the courts and procedure. The final area is the need for transparent granular data. There is no one thing that will solve the problem, but those three things combined, if they are tackled simultaneously, will solve the problem. That is the answer.