Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The next topic springs out of what was discussed in the previous session by Ms Sheridan. We could all say that we would have been very much impacted by her real-life story. It concerns the topic of insurance fraud. The insurance industry has repeatedly claimed that 20% of all claims are fraudulent with Insurance Ireland and Allianz claiming that insurance fraud costs the industry €200 million per year. In response to a parliamentary question, the Minister for Justice confirmed that 63 fraudulent claims were reported to An Garda Síochána in 2019 and that 48 were reported in 2020. In 2019, 177,000 claims were made in the area of motor insurance while 26,000 claims were made across employer's and public liability and commercial property insurance. This means that 0.003% of claims across motor insurance and employer's and public liability were reported to An Garda Síochána on the grounds of fraud in 2019. Either misinformation is being put out or the insurance industry is acting contrary to its obligations under section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act 2011. Does Ms Murdock recognise that the actions insurers have taken regarding insurance fraud do not correspond to the message being fed to the public?

My second question relates to the point made by Ms Sheridan. Under section 16(4) of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act introduced by Deputy Pearse Doherty that was signed into law in 2019, insurers are required to notify a consumer of a claim made against his or her own policy, give him or her an opportunity to submit relevant evidence and inform him or her if a settlement has been made. Can Ms Murdock confirm whether she believes these insurance companies are now operating each of these requirements?