Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand completely Deputy Sherlock's statement and his impatience about particular actions being taken at this point. I have explained why we are taking this correct route. I would prefer to gather more information and base any legislative proposals on clear facts that we can stand over rather than jumping the fence too soon and not knowing what is on the other side.

I understand the Deputy's impatience with the Central Bank and note his remarks that the bank should have been wise to this matter and that it should not have had to work its way up through consumer complaints, Oireachtas committees and complaints heard when canvassing for the general election, which led to it being included in the programme for Government. I understand the Deputy's reasoning for saying the Central Bank should have been ahead of the curve on the matter.

The bank's work will engage not just in examination of computer records of insurance companies but directly with consumers. I do not know how it will do that; it may be a survey or contact with a sample of particular consumers that may feel they have suffered because of dual pricing in order to get direct feedback. It will be an important point. It will take some months to get to the bottom of this and we are only in government a matter of weeks.

What is dual pricing? For example, I might get an insurance quote of €500 for my comprehensive insurance but a person of the same age, in the same village or town, with the same car of the same horsepower and age, with the same number of penalty points may get charged €600. We must know why that happens. Sometimes the person who gets the €600 quote will write a cheque and send it in the post but another person may ring the insurance company and argue about why the price has increased. When the person indicates he or she will shop around, a lower price may be offered. It is not fair as companies are abusing people who may be seen as a soft touch. It is a practice we must stamp out.

We are with the Deputy on this and it is in the programme for Government. We want more specific evidence before passing legislation on the matter.

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