Mr. Ger Deering:

Discretion is certainly useful and particularly for the longer-term policies, but even within those renewable type policies the Deputy has identified there are some that just automatically renew and there are some where people have to make a conscious effort to renew. Again, I would take the view that anything that extends our powers, and anything that brings complaints within our remit safely is welcome. By safely I mean that we must be conscious that there is a Constitution and the Statute of Limitations. There are other areas in which we do not want to end up in conflict. Certainly anything that will benefit the consumer - by looking at self renewing policies, where people do not necessarily pay as much attention as they would if they were to make a conscious effort to renew - would be helpful yes.