Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in the debate on this Private Members' motion. This is an issue that is affecting citizens across this State. Insurance companies would have us believe that fraudsters, excessive court settlements and the costs associated with the legal profession are the reasons behind the huge increases in motor insurance. Basically, they want to blame their customers but if we scratch the surface we can see that far from being solely the fault of others, it was the investment policies of many of these insurance companies faring far worse than expected, during a time of low interest rates, that resulted in worse than expected returns. To make up for that, they are the heaping extra costs onto drivers, many of whom have clean driving records and never had a claim in their lives. That is unacceptable.

We have seen a huge drop in the number of people holding learner permits in the past decade. Part of the reason for that is because many young people see no point in learning to drive as the costs are so high. This week I was contacted by a constituent who had returned here having been away for a year only to find that the cost of her insurance had gone through the roof, so to speak. She had nine years of driving experience, five on a full license, and she had never been in a collision or accident, yet her insurance cost has quadrupled to over €3,000. She said that this was "extortion at its finest", and it is hard not to agree with her.

We need urgent action on this issue. The Government must stop dragging its feet. It needs to complete the action points in the Report of the Cost of Motor Insurance, which was supposed to have been done two months ago, and it needs to ensure that the Central Bank enforces proper legislation on the industry.

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