Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share people's frustration at the cost of car insurance. I was an immigrant who came back, but I was walloped for not having a no claims bonus. That is how I got into this issue. In the 2016 general election this was a major issue on the doorsteps and it continues to be. Because of that the Government reacted and set up the cost of insurance working group. I have been working behind the scenes with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy, and his predecessor who is now the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. We want to make this happen. We want to do what we can to make it happen, but in trying to do so we are encroaching on and working with the private sector. There are several anomalies. The Government is on one side; the insurance companies are on another, while the Judiciary are on another. There are several pillars involved. There has been a change of culture in the insurance companies because they use more sophisticated systems to segment the market.

These strands were never segmented before. This allows insurance companies to concentrate on the vehicle, the age of applicants, demographics, emigrants - they never had them before because they never came home. They now use these various segments to gain competitive advantage. That culture has crept in, as I know from talking to people and receiving their feedback.

I quizzed representatives of Insurance Ireland for 15 minutes at a committee three weeks ago on some of the issues raised by previous speakers. I am not convinced by some of the answers they provided given the anecdotal feedback I have received on the ground. I will give some examples. Sales representatives who have been on the road for 15 years and are insured under an employer's group insurance policy are told when they seek insurance in their own name that they do not have a no claims bonus built up because it is the first time they have ever had insurance. The advice given to them is to get a slip of paper or confirmation from the insurance company that provided cover to the company they worked for previously and present that to their new insurance company. What is being pushed back on them now is that because they cannot prove they did not have an accident, because it was a group policy, they are still being charged the same. That is not fair play. That is not the Government's fault though. It is private enterprise pushing back.

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