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

I want to clarify that, in regard to the previous year's premium, when I came into this position, I was the one who was pursuing that. It has not been in train for 30 months but rather 15. That is how long it takes to get something through these processes in order to improve transparency for consumers.

I have not spared the insurance companies where I think they have not acted in a fair and reasonable manner towards their clients - their customers. These clients purchase products from those companies. It has been difficult on occasion to try to get improved transparency from the companies, and I have made that point before. As I see it, the biggest issue with the insurance companies is that the customer does not come first; he or she comes last. That is a terrible position for customers to find themselves in vis-à-visthe companies from which they purchase products. The consumer does not come first; the consumer comes last.

The Deputies will have seen that I have proposed the establishment of an insurance culture board similar to the Irish Banking Culture Board. It is something that badly needs to be reconfigured. On too many occasions, Irish consumers do not come first with the companies with which they contract. Without their customers, the insurance companies do not have a basis for their business.

See this speech in context