Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. It is clear that a fall in the awards that are given to people who have been injured should result in a fall in insurance premiums but it is not the case that a 40% or 50% fall in awards through the PIAB will not result in a 40% or 50% fall in premiums. That is because many or, indeed, most cases do not go through the PIAB. Many are settled before that and that is why insurance companies need to change their settlement strategy. A small proportion, of course, end up in court. Many factors go into the cost of insurance claims and general damages is one part of that.

Central Statistics Office, CSO, data indicate a fall in motor insurance costs. The research from the Alliance for Insurance Reform does not show a decrease yet for public liability. Chambers Ireland would give us some sense that there has been a bit of a fall but we are going to have to watch this over the next couple of months. There is an engagement directly with the industry where the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, meets individually with the CEOs of all of the major companies and is doing a second round of these meetings at the moment to impress upon them our expectation that there should be a euro-for-euro passing on of these reductions in terms of lower premiums.

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