Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

If I may come back to some of the points that Deputy Doherty raised on the statistics, I take his point. I used the CSO last week on Second Stage with regard to the points the Deputy made directly. However, the NCID statistics are the most pertinent and they show a clear reduction. I completely agree with the Deputy. With regard to the questions he said he would put to the insurance companies, I have and will continue to do put those. As I mentioned, I met the nine major insurance companies, as well as Brokers Ireland, Insurance Ireland and the Law Society, quite crucially, in recent weeks and we will meet them again. I have written to have follow-up meetings going forward on foot of this data and other data related to the points the Deputy made.

Regarding the Deputy’s legislation, we will await the money message from the Ceann Comhairle. There are a number of concerns that would have been laid out in the initial debate in response to the Private Members’ Bill when it was submitted in 2021 that the Government has and continues to have. Much of that is focused on the duplication of the work that is already being done in the NCID. It is also important to look at Great Britain, which the Deputy cited. The average costs of premiums in Great Britain have been going up considerably over the past number of years regardless. I appreciate there is absolutely a need for as clear transparency as possible. We fundamentally believe, as the Deputy does, that the NCID data provided is the best total example. I will not sit here and provide the sort of responses or excuses the Deputy well knows and would expect from insurance companies, but it is a matter of fact that inflation has gone up, the volume of road traffic incidents has gone up and the cost of parts is simply more expensive. It is not just the cost but also accessing parts is more difficult. That has affected the wider economy over the past couple of years with lingering issues, be it related to Covid, the war in Ukraine and various other issues related to the sheer logistics that go into this, the increased reliance on rental cars and the shortage therein. All these things factor in. These are the points that have been made to me.

I fundamentally underline that we are clear in our priority. The amount of work that has been done by the Government on reform has been quite substantial. I appreciate the Deputy’s and his party’s support in parts for that reform agenda and his continuing focus on it. It is important. We as legislators have the responsibility to consistently provide that focus. The Government knows much more work has to be done and much more heavy lifting has to be done either by the insurers themselves and the legal profession, which is a point worth making when we dig into the data that was provided earlier this week by the Central Bank. As I said, we will engage further with the Deputy specifically on that legislation tomorrow in parliamentary questions and in the context of this meeting.

I am grateful for the questions raised by all Deputies related to this important legislation, which is a small part of a wider reform agenda but is in itself extremely important. It is hoped it will have an impact on a number of motorists in many regards.