Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)

We have sat on this enterprise committee for a good while over the last few weeks going through the increased cost of doing business and insurance just keeps coming up. I know the committee members are probably wondering why someone would mention it again today but such is the importance of having fair insurance for businesses and for people out there that I am going back on it again, even though I started off on insurance when I first spoke today. I am going to speak about brokers. Their pricing model is mostly based on commission. I am not saying brokers would do this but if a broker does not do very well for its consumer or policyholder, he or she makes more money. Would the CCPC be happy with that? Should there be more competition there including looking at the barriers to entry? It seems like a lot of brokers are being bought up by bigger companies. Are we worried that there is going to be even less competition in the market? Again, I am particularly concerned about the public liability side of that.

One of the comments made on solicitors and the legal profession might make a headline because it was quite scary to see that in Ireland we are looking at about €1,800 in conveyancing fees compared to €600 in other countries. Legal fees also always come up as an issue when it comes to insurance. My colleague, Deputy Clendennen, asked what one sector in Ireland the CCPC would look for more competition in, if it could wave a wand or whatever, and solicitors or legal people was the answer given. I had a quick look there and between barristers and solicitors in Ireland we have about 15,000 to 15,500 of them. The equivalent figure in the UK is about 220,000. Looking at both our populations, we are probably on a par. On the solicitors side, how many more would we need? What way does the CCPC see competition coming in in that sector? It is something I have never even thought of in terms of competition. I genuinely thought that if more solicitors came out of college and work, they would just go with the fees the other solicitors have anyway. Is it going to take that one brave person to do a half-price sale on conveyancing, probate or something?

My last question is on the breaches that were mentioned with these retailers and big companies that the CCPC has brought to court. Will Mr. McHugh explain for the average person how it would have affected them had the CCPC not found what it found? What type of breach was it? Was it that somebody would have been paying €50 more for a product? Can he give us an idea as to what impact the CCPC has?