Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on this important Bill which was introduced by Deputy Doherty. I thank him for bringing forward the Insurance (Restriction on Differential Pricing and Profiling) Bill 2021.

In May 2019 we saw the headlines: "European Commission to investigate whether Insurance Ireland is operating a cartel" in thejournal.ieand "Insurers face millions of euro in cartel probe fines" in the Irish Independent. In February 2021 we saw the headlines: "Court rules pubs entitled to insurance over Covid closures" on the RTÉ website and "Irish Pubs Entitled to Get Lockdown Insurance Payments from FBD: High Court Ruling" in insurancejournal.com. Just this week, insurancetimes.co.ukhad a piece entitled: "Irish policyholders aged over 70 experience 'inflated premiums' for motor insurance", which stated that there are "staggering price differentials" for drivers aged over 70 in Ireland. Other media outlets were also covering the story this week, following a report published byinsuremycars.ie. Celine Clarke, Age Action's head of advocacy and communications said that the organisation has "previously asked for actuarial data regarding the setting of insurance premiums for older drivers from Irish insurance companies," but it was told that the information was commercially sensitive.

In preparing for this speech, I was thinking about the origins of the insurance sector. In fact, it is as old as society in some form or other. Unsurprisingly, I came across the following sentences:

A number of insurance companies were started in England after 1711, during the so-called bubble era. Many of them were fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes concerned mainly with selling their securities to the public.

Some things have not changed in a couple of hundred years. I guess that there is little or no public trust in this sector, and despite some action, this and previous Governments have been very lax in regulating and sanctioning the sector. Many of us know to shop around for insurance policies each time they are up for renewal. People advise each other to get a number of different quotes from various providers and not to accept the initial renewal prices. The differences are often stark. Hundreds of euro can be saved by shopping around, and this obviously does not only apply to the insurance industry. The original provider may then try to manipulate a customer into keeping his or her custom with it by throwing doubt over the extent of the coverage of cheaper options. Often, even just by saying that one is shopping around, one can be offered a discount on one's initial renewal quote. Shopping around is time-consuming and may be confusing. A person needs to have a certain level of literacy, understanding and assertiveness to advocate for him or herself with these sectors. That makes it all the more appalling that insurance companies are using profiling techniques in calculating their premiums, such as determining how likely a customer is to renew. This is punishing a customer who dares to think that customer loyalty might be rewarded or that the company has their best interests at heart. There are often discounts for shopping online or renewing online but what about the people who do not have that level of computer literacy or who perhaps do not even have access to the Internet at home? The latter point has been highlighted recently. Constituents in Donegal are especially impacted by differential pricing and profiling because we have one of the highest levels of forced car ownership across the country, according to the report, Identifying Hotspots of Transport Disadvantage and Car Dependency in Rural Ireland. One could ask what hope we have.

This is a short but technical and very important Bill. It will address some of the discriminatory practices of some insurance providers relating to pricing and profiling techniques. The Bill addresses these issues specifically in the home insurance and motor insurance markets. Section 5(2) provides for the Central Bank to issue a code of practice. I would have preferred to see the wording "shall issue" rather than "may issue", as we need to be as strict as possible in this area and also strict on the Central Bank. Section 6 provides for the annual reports by the Central Bank, which should set out recommendations to ensure compliance with the Bill. I welcome section 6(3) which states that the Minister shall lay a statement before the Dáil to outline the reasons it is not accepting the recommendations of the Central Bank, if he or she does not.

I am pleased that we are discussing this Bill today and I hope the Government will accept it. It is right to see the media coverage highlighting the many problems with the insurance sector, but there must be follow-up. The sector cannot be allowed to discriminate against people in this way. It is laughable to see Government messaging about certain issues that have already been highlighted by the Opposition. We have good ideas and it behoves the Minister to listen to us and accept our ideas. That way we would all be working for the betterment of the country. Instead, there is a Government narrative of anything they can do, we can do better, or copying homework but putting a fancy Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Green Party logo on the top of the page. The electorate sees through that and they see the spin and delay. I welcome this Bill and will be supporting it. I commend Deputy Doherty on his work on this matter.

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