Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The actions that occurred yesterday, the actions taken by the Competition Authority in the past and by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission in recent times, show real evidence that action is being taken to enforce competition law and ensure no collusion or cartels exist among businesses seeking to fix prices.

We all acknowledge in this House that insurance costs have increased considerably in the past couple of years and that this has had an impact on motor, home and business insurance which, of course, affects individuals, families, businesses and homeowners. That is why we established the task force under the Minister, Deputy Murphy. That task force reported not too long ago. As I mentioned earlier, measures are being taken to moderate the rise in insurance costs. The rise has moderated. It is now a question of bringing those costs down. It is important that insurance costs do come down. The Government will take whatever actions it can take to ensure this. It could be achieved, for example, through better use of the Personal Injuries Board, putting together the necessary databases, using a register of fraud and by having a revised quantum, the work on which is now under way. In addition, the building of a real Single Market across Europe in terms of services is a factor. We often talk about a Single Market in Europe but it is evident in some areas that we do not really have one. It should be much easier for people in Ireland to buy their insurance from other countries.

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