Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will respond to the three questions that have been put to me. Deputy Brendan Smith asked where we stand on the national claims information database. The legislation for this database as enacted in December. Work is now under way to get it up and running. The legal and legislative work in this regard has now been completed. The Deputy's second question was on the dedicated Garda fraud unit. The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, met the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, at the end of last year. The Commissioner is now considering how An Garda Síochána will respond to the report and to its recommendation that An Garda develop a specific investigative capacity in this area.

On Deputy Burton's question about our competence in this area, I am aware of the issue that this poses for smaller businesses and consumers. Earlier on I outlined that we have honoured the majority of action steps to which we have committed. More than 71 recommended actions have now been taken. While I am not in a position to give the Deputy information about the insurance policies of small and medium-sized companies, motor insurance premiums have reduced by 22.1% since their peak in July 2016. That is not information which I am supplying, but information which the CSO released last December.

See this speech in context