Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, agents from the European Commission competition directorate raided the offices of motor insurance providers in Ireland as part of an investigation into anti-competitive practices. The Commission said it had concerns that the companies involved may have engaged in anti-competitive practices in breach of European Union anti-trust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices or abuse of a dominant market position. In a separate development, it emerged that the offices of Insurance Ireland were visited by compliance officers as part of a European Union investigation into access to two databases used by insurance providers in the Republic. The investigations are on foot of complaints from new entrants to the market. The databases involved are Insurance Link and the Integrated Information Data Service, which were dealt with by an Oireachtas committee in some length over a year ago.

When most people heard this news, they said at long last somebody is doing something to stop the great rip-off of consumers by motor insurance companies and the insurance industry in general. We have witnessed increases of over 60% or more since 2011, 51% from 2014 onwards in motor insurance itself. These are extraordinary increases which people have experienced. People are generally fed up with what they perceive to be total inaction and ineffective interventions to give some fair play to consumers. They feel there are many platitudes and reports but no action. Essentially, it seems the Government stood by while these incredible increases were allowed to take place without any effective intervention.

Back in November, the Oireachtas all-party committee on finance finalised its report and raised the necessity of access to the two databases referred to as a matter of urgency. That recommendation was based on an earlier Department of Finance report in June 2016. Essentially, it seems it has taken Europe and the European Commission to shine a light on this, shake it up and seriously engage with the issues. It is not just car insurance but other areas of insurance. Many businesses have come under pressure in this regard. Most people would accept that when they went looking for car insurance over the past several years that there was little evidence of any competition in the marketplace.

Will the Taoiseach accept that the Government's response, as well as that of the agencies involved such as the Central Bank, raises questions as to how the insurance industry has been progressing in recent times? Will he accept the Government's response has been pathetically slow in dealing with this crisis for many consumers? Is the tolerance threshold for anti-competitive behaviour too high? That is a fundamental question we need to ask ourselves. Why has access to the two databases, in particular, been so restrictive? The industry has made all sorts of claims over the past several years, but they are not verifiable because of the absence of transparent comprehensive data.

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