Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have tabled amendment No. 2 in the name of the Fianna Fáil Party. I welcome this debate and I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling the motion and again generating a debate on motor insurance. When this Dáil was elected one of the first Private Members' motions put forward by our party, in June 2016, was on motor insurance. At the time, premiums were escalating at a rapid rate. We called for a special task force to be established and, to be fair, the Government responded and in the following month established the cost of insurance working group. It reported in January of last year with 33 recommendations and 71 actions. It is a good report, as I have said previously, and the work of the Minister of State, his predecessor and the officials in that regard should be acknowledged.

We must, however, go further and do more. There has been slippage in respect of many of the recommendations. We are now getting to the important recommendations, the ones that really matter and are likely to make a tangible difference to premiums and to the likelihood of people getting a quote in the first place. Some 15 of the actions have been delayed or are at risk of being delayed, according to the latest quarterly report.

We need to ensure a greater level of consistency in the area of awards. Insurance companies are settling claims which should never have been settled. Claims, which are bogus or exaggerated or may even be fraudulent, are settled because insurance companies do not want to take the risk of taking those cases to court due to the lack of certainty as to what the outcome will be. They remove that risk and uncertainty by settling claims. All that serves to do is to perpetuate the problem even further because it gives encouragement to others to take a chance.

It is remarkable we do not have statistics on the number of cases taken against people who have lodged false, exaggerated or fraudulent claims. We need to get that data. People in such cases need to be held to account and need to be punished where they are found guilty of doing so. That is a key issue which must be dealt with. We need to ensure, through the work of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, that awards are more consistent and appropriate.

We need more information and transparency from the industry itself. People are sometimes surprised to find out a claim has been settled for an accident in which they believed they played no role whatsoever. Insurance companies need to contest such claims vigorously. We need to encourage consumers not just to accept their renewal quotes. The reason the aggregate data is showing a 17% reduction, following a 70% increase in recent years, is because some consumers have actually contested and challenged their renewal premia. Insurance companies will still chance their arms to get a 15%, 20% or 30% increase. That is not acceptable. Consumers have a role to play in dealing with that issue.

It is not good enough that there is no oversight of the way two thirds of claims are settled outside of court and outside of the ambit of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. That is why a national information claims database is vital to ensure we get a proper handle on the data. The industry has a key role to play in this. It is not good enough to apportion blame on other parties. Everyone must be held to account for their role in this.

I welcome the Minister of State’s announcement in respect of Setanta Insurance and ensuring all outstanding claims will be dealt with fully. This needs to be given effect as quickly as possible because some of those affected have been waiting up to six years in respect of outstanding claims.

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