Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have final questions on this for Ms McEvoy. With her indulgence, it is straying from the issue of moneylenders and relates to her other role in consumer protection. I have two questions on the insurance issue. The issue of business interruption has not gone away. Many are still complaining about it. How satisfied is the Central Bank that all insurance policies it has deemed should be paid out are being paid, or does it believe that some case have to be tested in the courts before some final determinations can be made? Perhaps she would also quantify that.

Second, a massive number of people are just scratching their heads and wondering what is happening. After a long period, the Judicial Council Act 2019 was passed by the Oireachtas. The judges have done their work. They have reduced the cost of claims and the cost of awards is now officially reduced by 60% for minor recoverable injuries, yet we hear from businesses that their premiums are increasing and motorists who are renewing their policies are not getting the reductions that were promised by the industry. Representatives of the industry appeared before this committee and told us bluntly, and we do not know if the figures are right, that if we are not seeing a 20% reduction, we need to be asking some serious questions. That was based on a 50% reduction; the personal injury guidelines went further than that.

Turning to the Central Bank and the consumer protection role, what action is the bank taking? Does the Central Bank have the ability to collect the data to ensure the euro for euro reduction in the level of awards that are being paid from now on has been passed on to the consumer, as opposed to just seeing the reduction in insurance premiums that might be happening from another factor that is not related to claims? I make that point because when the British Government introduced legislation to cut the cost of whiplash injuries it passed a law to ensure that the insurance companies had to report to its central bank that the cost of premiums reduced in line with the reduction in awards. As Ms McEvoy knows, the six largest insurance companies in Britain are also the six largest insurance companies in Ireland. They have expectations that they must live up to in Britain in ensuring that the awards are passed on, which they do not have here. Does the Central Bank have the ability to collect those data at that granular level and, rather than telling me or the public that insurance premiums have reduced by 4% or 5%, to know exactly that, euro for euro in terms of the awards that have come down, the reduction has been passed on to consumers?