Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to take part in this debate. Dramatically rising insurance costs over recent years have affected almost everybody in this country, whether it be for car insurance, home insurance or business insurance. Last August I spoke on this very topic and raised the very many concerns I had about rising insurance premiums. CSO figures released at that time showed that general insurance costs had risen by more than 47% since 2011 and insurance costs in the motor sector had risen by more than 51% in the same period.

I know from my constituency work that people have suffered even greater rises and it must be said this has been for no obvious reason. In fact, I had one particular case where a person in Dundalk, who owns and drives a 2001 Polo with a 1 litre engine, was quoted almost €5,000 for insurance, with a reduced quote of €3,000 if a driving monitor box was installed. It should be noted this person had a full driving license and a no claims bonus. I had other cases where renewal premiums of more than €1,000 were being quoted when in previous years insurance renewal premiums of approximately €500 were the norm. We in County Louth have been particularly hard hit as we are deemed to be in a high risk category for location purposes.

I very much welcomed the establishment of a task force, led by my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, which was tasked with reporting on the cost of motor insurance in Ireland. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, on his report. The group has published a very detailed report highlighting a large number of actions to be undertaken over the next 24 months. Recently the Minister of State published his first progress report and highlighted that seven of the planned actions had taken place while the remaining three have been partially completed and are due to be fully completed in the very near future.

I know many on the opposite side of the House will attempt to play political games with this issue and, indeed, the motion is a prime example of this. I ask Members opposite to look at the bigger picture. The Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, was tasked with the job of finding out why insurance costs are rising, what can be done to halt the rise and to put in place measures to ensure we do not see a sudden increase in insurance costs in the future. Putting aside all political views, everybody can agree that while we are at a very early stage of the implementation of the actions highlighted in the report we are already seeing some real results.

As I said earlier, insurance costs had risen between 47% and 51% in the period from January 2011 to 2016. Recently released CSO figures show insurance costs have not risen month on month in 2017. This is progress and should be treated as such. Let us not forget the objective of the working group was to identify and examine the causes of the rising cost of insurance and recommend short, medium and long-term measures to be taken to address the issue of rising insurance costs. Although we are only a short period of time into the implementation of the measures included in the report, we are already seeing some very worthwhile benefits.

I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Murphy, on his work to date on the rising cost of insurance and his initial success in stalling increasing insurance costs. The cost of insurance is a major expense, not only for businesses but also for private individuals as they insure their cars and homes. We must ensure we have a fully functioning insurance sector where premiums are at a level that is affordable and sustainable. I look forward to the publication of the next progress report, which I firmly believe will provide further proof that real results will come as a result of the many actions recommended by the action group for rising insurance.

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