Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. As he correctly said, the personal injuries guidelines were adopted in April 2021. They represent a central plank of the Government’s insurance reform agenda. Recent data from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, indicate that the overall average award has fallen by 38% compared with awards made in 2020 under the book of quantum. Given the pace of reform, and the many other measures being implemented, it is necessary for the insurance industry to pass on benefits to its hard-pressed customers. As the Minister of State with special responsibility for insurance, I am currently involved in an intensive round of meetings with CEOs of insurance companies and am pressing this specific point with them.

It is important to note that the impact of reforms can take time to transmit to price levels for a variety of reasons. These can include uncertainty arising from ongoing legal challenges, as the Deputy will be aware; the inherent complexity of the insurance sector’s operating environment; or even dynamic, external developments which can determine price or supply in a small market such as Ireland. Notwithstanding these, what I can confirm is that domestic policy action has been clearly targeted at delivering real and sustainable change benefiting policyholders. In that regard, I welcome recent consumer price index, CPI, data from the Central Statistics Office showing that the price of motor insurance in January 2023 was 9.1% lower than in January 2022, 16.1% lower than April 2021, when the guidelines were implemented, and 43.7% lower than its peak in July 2016.

This is particularly notable as the same CPI data showed that the general rate of annual inflation was 7.8% in January. I know the Deputy has had difficulty with Central Statistics Office statistics in the past, including the last time we discussed this matter, so it is important to say that the fourth national claims information database, NCID, private motor report gave some initial insight into the impact of the guidelines on awards, which was broadly in line with the data released by PIAB. There is read-across there. The NCID continues to be enhanced and will provide more frequent information on premium levels from this year onwards, further enabling us to monitor the impact of reforms.

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