Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Would that be very difficult to prove? I am a certain age and live at a certain address and I am not told if there is a premium or loading for that. If I provide my details on the various insurance websites, they come up with very different figures. I am the same person, only a little older with a slightly older car, and I am not driving any more or less than I did previously. Different companies give vastly different prices based on the same statistical information. However, if I phone up the company, the €420 quote suddenly falls to €360 and if I phone a second time, it is reduced to €290. I am not told the quote is being reduced by €20 because I indicated I do not drive on weekends or after midnight or I do not do X, Y or Z. This will be incredibly difficult. I am not saying dual pricing does not go on or that there are not analytics on whether we stay up late at night watching Netflix or get up early or that track my mobile phone or whatever. I do not know what it is possible to do. I do not think any of us is fully cognisant of what companies are capable of doing, including accessing our search histories and so on. I see some people smiling. Big data is everywhere. I just wonder how a complainant or the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman will be able to prove a complaint that he or she was offered a different price based on discrimination. It seems to me that insurance companies charge whatever they want and whatever they think they can get away with. Obviously, they believe there are customers who do not switch or are less liable to switch and they will charge those customers more.

They might offer customers that have a history of switching something more attractive. They might be prepared to discount it bit more if they have analytics on price points. For example, if you give them 30% they stay but if you give them 20% they do not. I do not know. How does Mr. Deering see this playing out in terms of the ability of the FSPO - I do not doubt his ability - to bring a successful case that proves that the system is as broken as it seems to be? If one goes into a shop, a packet of biscuits is a packet of biscuits and a bottle of Coke is a bottle of Coke. Why is it so easy for insurance companies to game it whatever way they like?