Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

The problem here - and this is not the first time I have highlighted it - is that I, on behalf of Sinn Féin and the Alliance for Insurance Reform, said we needed commitments from the insurance industry that if reforms were introduced, then premiums needed to be reduced. The Minister's former party leader, Leo Varadkar, gave headlines to the newspapers six or seven years ago to the effect that he was giving the insurance industry six months or else. What did he mean by that? Just taking the past 12 months, insurance premiums for motorists have gone up a whopping 9%. Motor insurance is at the highest level it has been in five years. It is more than double the European average. What is driving motor insurance premiums up? There is only one thing: it is profit and corporate greed. The industry is able to do this because the Government is not going to do anything it, despite the words of the former Taoiseach six or seven years ago. There is no stick when it comes to this issue. That is why the insurance companies are taking a hand not only at the Government but at their customers. What is happening is not right. What measures does the Minister plans to take to ensure that these reforms will result in meaningful reductions for consumers as opposed to whopping profits for the industry?

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