Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 8 December 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Insurance Issues: Central Bank

Dr. Mark Cassidy:

From next year, we will be able to compare trends settled under the new personal injury guidelines with those settled under the previous book of quantum. We will have that information immediately. We have also continued to publish what is happening with overall premiums in the market, profitability, and so on. It is more difficult to attribute a change in premiums to any single factor, such as a change in personal injury guidelines. To give a specific example, in 2021, there was a pre-existing trend of declining premiums that we think would have continued regardless of any external factors. Covid has had a positive impact on the profitability of banks because there have been fewer claims. We expect this will be passed on to some extent in the form of lower premiums. There is also the impact of judicial guidelines. It is difficult to disentangle what part of the decline in premiums is due to a pre-existing trend, what is a Covid effect, and what relates to the personal injury guidelines. As we get more information over the years, it becomes easier to make that analysis.

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