Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 29:

In page 9, line 5, after “insurance” to insert the following: “along with a schedule showing the premiums paid, claims paid out and other statistical data related to the record of the policyholder for the past five years where applicable”.

This relates to the previous discussion we had. This amendment would insert an obligation on the insurance companies to provide "along with a schedule showing the premiums paid, claims paid out and other statistical data related to the record of the policyholder for the past five years where applicable". This is about transparency.

We had representatives from soft-play companies before the committee. The Minister of State is well aware of this. We had an industry telling us that there was too much risk and that it was all about claims and so on and so forth. Through considerable hard work, the soft play companies, animal farms and various others have come together to form an organisation of 89 individuals and companies. They created a mutual. This has enabled them to get insurance under a British underwriter. It took a great deal of effort on their part to ask each of the companies how much they paid out in premiums during the previous five years and the number of claims made against the company and so on and so forth. With the data they were able to say that it made sense to create a mutual because they were paying out more in premiums than was being paid out in claims.

A similar measure could provide a level of transparency. If I were to have motor insurance, for example, along with my renewal quote and the premium I paid out last year, I could also have data on how much I paid each year and the claims that I made or that were made during that period. Some of this already happens with certain insurance companies. Consumers get a schedule for house insurance and the insurer will itemise over a period of years what claims were made.

This is about ensuring that the premiums paid and claims made over a five year period are included in a renewal quotation.