Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I revert to his final remarks and agree the cost of insurance is a complex issue. However, urgency to address that issue is missing but is absolutely necessary in the context of motor insurance premiums initially rising by 32.3% over the past 12 months and of house insurance premiums rising by a minimum of 10%. I met a gentleman this morning whose insurance premium for this year was €970 but for whom the cost of the premium for the next 12 months has risen to €1,495. This is without a claim, anything in the area to do with flooding or anything that would point to the reason for such a premium. While I acknowledge this issue is complex, urgency is what is needed and it is particularly complex when one does not have the money to pay for it. The choice then is one either leaves it aside and does not insure one's assets or one gives up something else. People will not be happy to hear that insurance premiums are increasing purely as a result of investment losses. Once again, ordinary people must pay for the mistakes of highly paid professionals who are getting away with it all and this burden and this cost again go right down onto the citizens of the State. There have been many reviews and discussions during the two years since Setanta Insurance closed. While I accept there are legal cases regarding that specific incident, the principles, which are what are driving many of the claim increases at present, could have been dealt with during that time.

There also is a serious issue with health insurance and public liability insurance and once again, the courts are making decisions that are bringing us back 20 years in respect of claims and settlements. There must be urgency in addressing various items of information that should be provided to courts in this regard. I point to the success of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board established in 1998, which reduced motor insurance costs by 40% between 2002 and 2013. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board arose directly from that process but has been frustrated at every turn by members of a legal community who do not wish to lose control of this particular highly lucrative market for themselves. Moreover, during the term of the previous Government, the Legal Services Regulation Bill was introduced on Second Stage in December 2011 but its Final Stages were rushed through the House, in a much watered-down form in January 2016 because the Labour Party refused to stand up to its legal community to ensure that citizens got a better deal. This is another element of the complex pattern to which the Minister referred and that is driving this on.

As for motor insurance, the Minister also mentioned there is a large number of uninsured cars. This should not be the case because the State surely has the technological capacity to ensure that on purchasing a car, a person's insurance can be linked to it. This also is a result of reduced Garda patrols, if that has an impact. If the Minister does not believe in the veracity of this claim, to tackle that claim surely he and the Department of Justice and Equality should be able to provide statistics showing the level of enforcement pertaining to uninsured cars. Finally, on motor insurance, while I acknowledge Members have had a lot of engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Harris, on this issue, I refer to the petrol stretching that occurred in August 2014 whereby contaminated petrol entered the system. It was bought from reputable retailers who did not know they had it by motorists whose cars were destroyed as a result. In many households, both cars were destroyed. Such cars in rural areas are not luxuries but are needed to live. Serious damage was done in respect of insurance claims and premiums were increased considerably. In some cases, older people who had made no claim for many years lost their no-claims bonus through no fault of their own. No compensation was given to these people and there has been very little follow-up regarding the impact. I again ask the Minister to look into this matter to ascertain what occurred. Petroleum products are one of the biggest producers of tax returns in Ireland and the Minister, his Department and officials surely must have an element of control over the supply that would enable them to know from where that supply came. Many people now are paying additional insurance premiums and many others who were not affected are paying because the insurance industry is using this event as an excuse.

I have been raising the issue of the impact of insurance increases on businesses with the Minister, Deputy Bruton, for many months. This is not a shock and the level of increases evident in the consumer price index cannot be a shock to anybody. Increases of 30% in motor insurance premiums have been occurring.

We are all subject to it ourselves in terms of our own premiums. Businesses have been hit with major insurance costs for 18 or 19 months now and they cannot sustain the increase. They do not have the revenue to sustain it. In particular, small businesses which are struggling cannot sustain it. It should be apparent to the Minister now that there is no recovery to keep going. This is one of the elements ensuring people do not have that extra cash he thinks they should have in their pockets or businesses. It is going to pay costs over which they have no control and they see a Government that is not acting with urgency.

The incoming Government must address this urgently. It is a matter of concern that two Departments are once again fighting for control. There is the Minister's Department and the Central Bank and then there is the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. One person needs to come in, take charge and address the issue. If we keep sustaining and standing over insurance increases such as these ones, they will undermine people's ability to live and do business and their ability to create employment.

Finally, unless the petrol stretching issue is brought to a conclusion, people's faith in the justice system will be undermined. Anyone who has suffered from that issue will also be undermined.

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