Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

When we talk to people about the insurance industry and how it has conducted itself in recent years, they have many things to say. Comments that are made regularly to me are that it is a law onto itself, it is beyond reach, reproach and sanction, and it is unaccountable. Who pays the price for that? It is paid by the businesses struggling to find any kind of affordable insurance cover at a time they are under severe pressure. It is paid by the childcare facilities struggling to secure insurance, many of which are going out of business. The price is paid by businesses operating in very specific areas, such as soft play providers. It is paid by young people trying to get on the road and spread their wings, many of whom may need a car to get any kind of job or get to university. All of these people are being denied by what the insurance industry is doing.

This Bill seeks to make the industry accountable. Insurance companies made big commitments that if the costs of awards and damages came down, they would pass that saving on to their customers.

They said in 2019 that if awards decreased by 50%, they would reduce motor premiums by 15% and business insurance by 20%. These guidelines have been in place for more than a month but there is no evidence yet of this being passed on to the consumer. The Government's policy so far has been to cross its fingers and hope the insurance industry will do the right thing and reduce premiums. That is not good enough. The industry needs to be held to account to deliver on its promise. Businesses in Cork, including in my constituency, and everywhere else are under very severe financial pressure because of the pandemic. The least they deserve is not to be ripped off by insurance firms taking advantage. This Bill would force insurance companies to pass these savings on euro for euro to customers in the form of lower premiums. It would require the insurance industry to pass on information to the Central Bank outlining if and how it has passed on those savings. It is perfectly sensible legislation and I do not understand why the Minister of State is delaying this for nine months. It is a fiction. It is a way of avoiding supporting perfectly good Sinn Féin legislation that would help motorists, businesses and community organisations, and the Government should drop its amendment.

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