Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. The Alliance for Insurance Reform, relaunched in January, brings together 20 civic and business organisations from across Ireland. It represents 35,000 members, more than 600,000 employees and 41,300 volunteers. This time around, it is much more broadly based than in the past, taking in charities, festivals and sports organisations, as well as small and medium enterprises.

The alliance issued a statement today calling for the establishment, on a statutory basis, of a financial conduct authority to oversee the insurance industry on the back of the insurance companies having announced massive profits. For example, last week, FBD Insurance announced profits of €45 million and RSA Insurance Ireland announced profits of €10 million. Directors of the Alliance, Mr. Peter Boland and Mr. Eoin McCambridge, have called for the establishment of this authority as there has been no meaningful reform of the insurance industry despite the establishment more than 18 months ago of the insurance working group.

Will the Taoiseach commit to the establishment of a financial conduct authority to protect the interests of policyholders and revert to this House with a clear, meaningful change on insurance costs for businesses?

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