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

That is pathetic. It has taken two and a half years for the most basic reform to be introduced in order that consumers will be informed, via their annual renewal notices, what they paid last year and what they are being asked to pay this year. It has taken that amount of time to have that level of basic information provided to consumers. I feel sorry for the Minister of State at times in trying to deal with this. It is a joke that it was not possible to reach agreement with the insurance industry on a protocol requiring its members to inform policyholders that claims were made against them and to inform them subsequently how those claims were dealt with, namely, whether they settled, the amount of the settlements involved and so on.

I am not afraid to call out the insurance industry either when I think it is wrong. It is depressing that such a simple reform could not be agreed on a voluntary basis and that we have to go down the road of legislating in order to give consumers the most basic information, to which they are entitled and should be provided as a matter of course.

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