Professor Peter Clinch:

The Deputy has challenged me fairly, and I will respond robustly. We are absolutely not focused solely on the large manufacturing or services companies trading here. We have put out a lot of information about it. We will make big mistakes if we just look at top line data. We spend a lot of time looking at the micro data, but the problem is getting that data. The cost of doing business report is a purely statistical report. We have to be able to compare the data internationally, and we do not have that data so it is not included in the report. We have representation from the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland and the Small Firms Association on our council. We are a product of social partnership so there are an interesting variety of views around the table. We manage to produce something sensible from the variety of views by following the data, and make sure that we only say things that are based on fact. That makes it very difficult in areas where the data are poor. However, I assure the Deputy that we were very early out of the blocks on the issue of insurance, and followed the information that was coming to us from the organisations on our board concerning insurance. We produced a bulletin which has led to many changes. We used the statistical report to then make recommendations in the Challenge report. The data are poor; our principal recommendation is to get better data. I urge everyone here to push the CSO for better data on insurance and legal services. It is very hard to get. It is hard for us to make the kind of points we want to make and the types of points the Deputy has made without having firm evidence.

The Deputy is quite right to say that there is plenty of personal experience of serious difficulties in obtaining insurance and the cost of that insurance when obtained. I had an argument with my insurance company over motor insurance, in fact; I had to tell it what the data were and that it should have gone down rather than up. Just because the average price seems to go down it does not mean that prices are increasing for people. We have made many different recommendations around insurance. In the December 2018 challenge report the main recommendations were to continue the implementation of the outstanding cost to employer and public liability insurance report recommendations, which address the issue of transparency in the insurance industry; to establish a standardised and internationally recognised approach to diagnose, treat and report on soft tissue injuries, as recommended by the Personal Injuries Commission, in order to improve transparency, comparability and efficiency of the personal injury claims system in Ireland; and to undertake more regular reviews of the book of quantum and provide a greater degree of granularity in terms of injury compensation data.

The Deputy has made a good point about the statistical report. To address the issue he raised, we should probably include in our reports a box outlining what we were not able to report on and what we are concerned about. It should be highlighted so that it is clear to interested parties that we are aware that this is an issue and that we are trying to get better data on it.