Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael)
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Young and old people are paying prohibitive rates of insurance. That cannot continue. How many insurance companies providing motor insurance are not regulated by the Central Bank, like Setanta? Setanta has given rise to a ruling of €90 million that the insurance industry says will probably result in further premium increases for ordinary people. When will the report be ready? What type of forensic due diligence analysis is the working group doing of what companies are charging? A total of 80% of all awards are agreed outside the courts - in other words, the 20% that happen in the courts dictate the fact that many settle outside the courts. Is the working group considering the level of awards made by various insurance companies and tracking those back to the increase in premiums with those companies? The problem is that we are hearing a lot of abstract talk from the insurance industry, and I would like to see the detail on that.

If the insurance industry is using this smoke screen, based on worldwide activities, to rip off young Irish people who are trying to get motor insurance, we cannot allow that happen. We need forensic details to point that out. I note that the Governor of the Central Bank is looking for regulation and I am worried that there are companies in the market which are not regulated by the Central Bank. They are beyond the pale. What exactly is the basis for that? We need to know the reason. Abstract reasons for pushing up motor premiums do not wash with me. I want to see the detail. I want to see it across all the companies and the level of claims for individual companies. Therein probably lies the answer.

The review group cannot just be a discussion group, it must drill down into the market to see why these premiums are being charged. A couple of years ago premiums were reasonable value but suddenly they went up in a very short period of time. The figures quoted make for alarming reading: they went up by 36% in the past 12 months and by 70% in the past three years. That means some young person was paying €600 for insurance but may now be quoted €2,000 or €3,000, which is astronomical. What practical measures is this review group taking? When will the report be published and be made public? Then we can get down to the detail of why this is happening rather than have an abstract discussion which the insurance industry appears to be dictating.