Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 14 together.

The cost of insurance working group's report on the costs of motor insurance was published in January 2017. It makes 32 recommendations, with 71 associated actions to be carried out within agreed timeframes which are set out in the action plan. The most recent meeting of the working group took place on 25 October and the group has met 14 times thus far this year. In parallel with the ongoing implementation of the motor insurance report's recommendations, the working group has been undertaking an examination of the employers' liability and public liability insurance sectors. In addition, two subgroups examining the specific issues relevant to these sectors were established and have been meeting on a near weekly basis.

In line with the commitment to publish quarterly update reports on the implementation of the recommendations made in the report on the cost of motor insurance, the working group has published three update reports to date, most recently on 23 October 2017. I am pleased to note that of the 32 actions due for completion before the end of the third quarter, 29 have been completed. Substantial work has taken place on the nine action points categorised as ongoing.

Of the three actions which have not been fully completed to date, two relate to the same recommendation which requires the approval of the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Garda Commissioner for potentially far-reaching co-operative mechanisms between Insurance Ireland and An Garda Síochána to be formalised. The other outstanding action is contingent on the establishment of the new office of the legal costs adjudicators, now scheduled for 2018.

While it is inevitable that some recommendations will take longer to implement than envisaged at the time the report was written, I am satisfied that, in overall terms, the recommendations made in the report are being implemented in a timely fashion. The fourth quarterly update should be published early in the new year and will focus on the 14 actions due for completion in the final quarter of 2017. All of the remaining actions are scheduled to be completed before the end of 2018.

In response to the question of whether reductions in motor insurance costs have been achieved, the most recent CSO-CPI data for October indicated that average private motor insurance premiums had decreased by 15.2% since peaking in July 2016.

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