Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am old enough to remember the PMPA saga, and all of us in this House are certainly old enough to remember the Quinn debacle where we are still paying a 2% levy which is expected to remain until 2037. This is unfair on the taxpayers.

This Setanta saga is another sorry issue. We know the history here. As Deputy Murphy O'Mahony stated, over 1,600 customers are affected. These customers are seriously out of pocket and many of them are living a nightmare.

There are many other companies operating in the Irish market which are registered in another jurisdiction. This motion calls on the Central Bank to conduct an awareness campaign so that consumers are informed as to who regulates the motor insurance firms with which they have their policies. Firms can pass themselves off as being Irish because they are selling their services in Ireland but many of them are only regulated here for conduct of business purposes. This needs to be made known to the consumer, loud and clear. When people hear in an advertisement that such a financial services is regulated here for conduct of business purposes, they assume it means the service is fully regulated here in Ireland. However, this is not the case.

It is planned that the role of the supervisory authorities will be significantly enhanced, including provision for more co-operation between member states. It should make a Setanta-type scenario less likely in the future but it does not solve the problem of those affected. It is important that we get the ruling of the Supreme Court as early as possible, considering that the hearing took place last October.

We also need to increase the powers of injury boards to determine more claims and reduce legal costs. We need more transparency in relation to those claims settled by insurance companies out of court. We also need to benchmark Irish awards against international standards. All too often the high rate of Irish court awards is blamed for the high cost of insurance and this also needs to be looked at. Only 65% of the outstanding claims of Setanta up to a value of €825,000 will be met. What about the remainder? What redress do they have? This is unacceptable.

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