Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach

Motor Insurance Costs: Minister of State at the Department of Finance

10:00 am

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Obviously, I cannot speak to an individual claimant in respect of his or her position with his or her solicitor or comment on the advice he or she is receiving. This is a very difficult situation for a number of people who have had claims in this area and who may have this uncertainty as to what will be recovered or what might be their liability. We are still in the early stages of working through this. We have rough numbers as to the first tranches that will come through. It is not yet clear what the liquidation of Setanta will cover for policyholders in the context of the 35% that needs to be made up and what this will mean for individuals, including the person to whom the Deputy refers. We do not know. Even if the Government was to think about stepping in to fill the gap, there is a difficulty regarding how this might affect priority in respect of the liquidation of Setanta. We have difficulties in terms of what we can do. In so far as what the insurance industry might be willing to do, again, matters are at a very early stage. We need to find out exactly what the position might be in terms of how we proceed with realising the funds from the ICF for claimants. We also need to obtain a better understanding, from the second actuarial report that will be done following the judgment, of what exactly will be available as a result of the liquidation. At that point, we will know better where we stand.