Ms Moyagh Murdock:

I am precluded from talking about future pricing and premiums. We are talking about taking the cost of insurance out of the process, which will have a big impact on the premiums that businesses and consumers currently pay. I can also point to what has happened in the last 12 to 18 months and even going back to when motor premiums reached their peak in 2017. In the past 12 months, those premiums have come down by 12%. Since the peak in 2017, they have come down 30%. While I acknowledge my colleague's survey of his members within the Alliance for Insurance Reform, the one bright spot in the monthly reporting from the CSO is that the cost of insurance is continuing to decline. The CSO does not report on employers' liability and public liability, ELPL, and property insurance because it is a complex portfolio. However, I know from reports from my members in this market that they have not seen any significant increase and nothing in line with the actual inflationary pressures that are on businesses in terms of materials and labour. We can also point to the fact that the ELPL market has been loss-making over the past number of years. We are only now in a position where we are starting to break even. It is important that this market is attractive in order to bring in more insurers. It must be a viable business for the sake of the consumers and the policyholders themselves and so as to attract insurers into the Irish market. As it stands, we all know it is very difficult to bring new players in. This proposed Bill, together with the revised guidelines and the news that the change in the duty of care is imminent, will certainly address the drivers of the cost of insurance in employers' liability, public liability and property insurance. I assure the committee that we have seen clear evidence of reducing prices up to this point in time.