Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome our guests and thank them for addressing the committee. First, I would like to know the attitude to companies from outside this jurisdiction coming in here and offering insurance that is often at cut prices and is detrimental to the industry. In more than one case, companies have returned to their homelands when the damage has been done. What is the attitude of the Central Bank to that kind of thing? What is the it to counteract this type of activity? On the one hand, such activity might be referred to as competition but, on the other, it is not competition if these companies are predatory and decide to leave the jurisdiction afterwards. What are the effects or perceived effects of this activity and are of these firms left? Also, is it quite clear across the business sector that business interruption is clearly defined so that everybody knows what it means and if they make an application that they can then assured of a fair and early hearing?

In terms of online applications for life cover, I have seen questions that asked the applicant whether he or she had an illness, is being treated for an illness or is visiting a doctor. Let me outline the problem. There are cases where an applicant answers the question to the best of his or her ability. He or she may attend a doctor occasionally and the doctor may have information that he or she has not made available to the patient for a variety of reasons. There is no variety in the way in which insurance companies react, however. It is quite clear that because people do not provide the information sought - that is, whether they suffer from a particular illness - and even though a diagnosis might be pending and might not have been conveyed to the patient, the fact that a doctor was involved and knew the nature of the illness means that the spouse of the patient does not get cover.

Does the ban on price walking infer a possible increase in insurance cover for motorists or anybody by way of retaliation? Those are my questions for the moment.