Pat Casey (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State and acknowledge the work he is doing on the insurance sector. It is a complex and diverse sector that needs a huge amount of reform. Such reform will eventually pay dividends for everyone. My colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, raised the issue of Covid payments. I want to focus on that issue too. The way in which the insurance industry behaved towards businesses was absolutely disgraceful and there is no doubt about that. First they said that they did not cover business interruption in the context of a pandemic and businesses had to drag them through the courts before they agreed that they did have to cover business interruption. As businesses progressed their claims, the next clanger was that insurers would deduct any Government supports given to businesses during that period. I know of some businesses that are now being challenged with a claim that once they reopened their doors, despite the business being interrupted by Covid, they were no longer covered for business interruption. The insurers are no longer accepting that period within the claim. It seems to be all about insurance and the insurance industry.

As my party colleague mentioned, collecting data is fine but not being able to go after these companies into the future is a concern. I would like to point out that no business will ever get insurance again for business interruption in the context of a global pandemic. I wish those businesses trying to include such cover in their policies the best of luck in terms of the price they will pay. My follow-on concern is whether the insurance industry will reflect the Government's support for businesses in the premiums they will be asking them to pay. At the moment, insurance companies are calculating premiums on the basis of a full payment and not on a payment minus any Government support. We are now almost two years into this pandemic. Some businesses had cover for two years, some for one year and others for 18 months. They are now coming out of the cover period and are facing huge premiums but those premiums are based on a 100% claim of exposure by insurance companies even though the State has covered a significant portion of the loss. Another problem with insurance companies is that it takes so long to progress claims and businesses are paying premiums based on claims that have not been finally settled. That is a concern going forward. I appreciate that under head 8 some form of transparency in terms of what is happening will be available to businesses. The level of transparency between insurers and clients is not up to standard.

Again, I thank the Minister of State for taking on the challenge of reforming the insurance industry. Insurance is a noose around the neck of businesses at the moment. It is strangling them in terms of remaining operational.