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

I thank the Deputy. This is a good opportunity to answer the question on insurance. There is one line from the report which is very relevant. It says that if we have high awards, we will not have low premiums, and we have very high awards in our insurance sector. All one has to do is look at any of the awards at the moment. Some of them are quite staggering.

Both I and the Government are very conscious of the difficulties that increased insurance costs generally, and in many instances the limited availability of cover, are having on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as on businesses overall and on community activities. Consequently, following the publication of its report on the cost of motor insurance in January 2017, the cost of insurance working group undertook an examination of the employer liability and public liability insurance sectors in its second phase of work.

While a number of the recommendations in the motor report are relevant to the area of business insurance, in particular, the recommendations regarding the book of quantum, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and the establishment of the personal injuries commission, it became clear in preparing that report that there was also a pressing need to examine the drivers of the rising cost of business insurance. The second phase work culminated in the publication on 25 January 2018 of the report on the cost of employer and public liability insurance, following its approval by Government. This new report makes 15 recommendations with 29 associated actions to be carried out, which are detailed in an action plan.

The recommendations, covering three main themes, include actions to increase transparency, such as providing improved data sharing and collection processes and reviewing the level of damages in personal injury cases, which I spoke about at the very start. One action to review damages is to request that the Law Reform Commission undertake a detailed analysis of the possibility of developing constitutionally sound legislation to delimit or cap the amounts of damages which a court may award in respect of some or all categories of personal injuries. As the Deputy knows, personal injury cases are civil cases and these Houses do not interfere in the level of costs awarded in such cases.

Another recommendation of the report is to improve the personal injuries litigation framework through a number of measures, including ensuring potential defendants are notified in sufficient time that an incident has occurred in respect of which a claim is going to be made against their policy. One of the big things we want to ensure is that the time periods contained in the General Data Protection Regulation and the data protection laws, which are kicking in on 25 May, align in respect of insurance. For example, if people have an obligation to erase video or any imagery taken in their premises within a period of 28 days, they must be given the opportunity to store it so that they can use it when defending a case taken against them.

The most important of these measures to improve the framework is tackling fraudulent or exaggerated claims and ensuring that suitable training and information supports are available to the Judiciary to assist in the fair and consistent assessment and awarding of damages in personal injury cases.

All 29 actions are scheduled to be implemented before the end of 2019, with 26 of those actions to be completed by the end of this year. The fifth quarterly progress update is due to be published tomorrow and will focus on the implementation of both of the primary reports. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that, in respect of the eight actions from the report on employer and public liability insurance due for completion in the first quarter of 2018, all eight deadlines have been met. It is appreciated that these eight actions, in the main, can best be described as stepping stones to the implementation of broader policy initiatives such as improving the engagement process between insurers and policyholders with claims submitted against them, and ensuring that enhanced communication between An Garda Siochána and the insurance industry will lead to more effective investigation and prosecution of cases involving insurance fraud.

See this speech in context