Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Commissioner Vestager is very accustomed to problems in the Irish insurance market, having overseen the investigation into the motor insurance industry over recent years for operating a cartel. That investigation and political pressure from Sinn Féin and Deputy Pearse Doherty led the Government to set out the 66 actions on insurance reform. The Government recently published a report claiming most of the actions have been, or are in the process of being, implemented. However, the director of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, Peter Boland, said all of the gains made are being pocketed by insurers and, in fact, premiums are increasing. This is particularly true for small businesses that are already being crippled by rising costs. Homeowners are seeing huge jumps in the cost of home insurance at a time when mortgage rates are going up and bills are skyrocketing. I am concerned about what is happening with home insurance. Construction inflation and the cost of rebuilding are major issues, but I am hearing about cases where insurance premiums have increased from €400 or €500 to over €1,000. Such increases negate all of the cost-of-living measures implemented by the Government.

See this speech in context