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

Given all the work he has done in this area, the Deputy will be aware of what dual pricing is, so I will not go through the definition. As he himself has acknowledged, the Central Bank has now published the findings of a phase of its work in studying this practice in the Irish market. Our programme for Government includes a commitment to remove this practice from the market. I will be looking at the work the Deputy has done in this area and any legislation he may bring forward in that regard.

That being said, the Central Bank review is ongoing and focused on motor and home insurance. It is being carried out in three phases, and the first of these was completed recently. While I welcome the publication of the report, I note with concern that the Central Bank has observed that the majority of firms utilise differential pricing through various techniques. A failure to recognise and acknowledge the practice on the part of some firms has raised significant concerns about their ability to assess its impact on customers. This is why, on foot of this, the Central Bank wrote to the chief executives of these insurance providers on 8 September to highlight its concerns following this first phase. I expect that the firms will respond to these concerns and co-operate with the Central Bank.

The work of the Central Bank is now moving to the next phase of its review before it makes any final recommendations. I believe it is prudent to wait until the review is complete. This is a complex issue and we will need to consider carefully any potential remedies and what impact they could have on consumers. We need to guard against the risk of unintended consequences and ensure that in attempting to address an issue we do not create an undesirable knock-on impact elsewhere or discourage competition or new entrants to the market.

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