Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This House agreed key legislation after it had been blocked by the Government for two years with a money message trick. It is on the record of the House that the Minister sat down with the industry. The industry asked him to stall key sections of the legislation. What did the Minister for Finance do? He bowed to the industry. Who pays the price for this? People who are being ripped off do. The facts are the facts. Insurance premiums have gone up by 35% in the past ten years, the cost of claims has fallen by 9%, the number of claims has fallen by 45%, and next year this industry will make bigger profits.

I will ask the Minister about another piece of legislation and a key report I gave to the Central Bank which triggered its own examination of dual pricing, a practice that is going to be banned in Britain and is banned in 20 states in America. Let us put the Minister to the test on this one. I will publish legislation in the coming weeks to ban this policy outright. Will the Minister for Finance say he supports this or does he again need to find out what the insurance industry wants on this issue?

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