Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Finance the status of the work of the working group in his Department on motor insurance costs; when the recommendations of the working group will be published; the timeline for implementation of the recommendations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34249/16]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I again raise the issue of the spiralling cost of motor insurance faced by motorists generally and the business community. Will the Minister of State provide an update on the work of the working group that is examining the issue? When will the recommendations be published? Will there be a timeline for their implementation?

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The cost of insurance working group which I am chairing is examining the factors contributing to the increasing cost of insurance. The working group brings together all of the relevant Departments and offices involved in the process. Its objective is to identify immediate and longer term measures which could address increasing costs, while bearing in mind the need to maintain a stable insurance sector. The initial focus of the working group is on rising motor insurance premiums.

The core areas to be examined by the working group in this first phase are the motor insurance sector generally, at present and in recent years; the effects of legal costs and litigation processes on insurance costs; the current claims compensation arrangements and the cost of claims; insurance data and information; the impact of accident rates; the impact of unlawful activity on the insurance sector; and other market issues.

The cost of insurance working group has met nine times to date and will continue to meet until the end of the year. The work is being progressed through four subgroups, which have been meeting weekly since their establishment on 1 September 2016. The consultation process is ongoing by both the working group and the sub-groups. The stakeholders include Insurance Ireland and individual insurance companies; the Irish Brokers Association; AA Ireland; the Consumers Association of Ireland; the Law Society; the Bar Council; the Irish Road Haulage Association; the Car Rental Council; the National Transport Authority; and Tiómanaí Tacsaí na hÉireann. In addition, I have invited submissions to the working group from all interested parties to .

At the end of October 2016, the working group provided the Minister for Finance with an initial set of emerging recommendations. The Minister has considered these recommendations and I have discussed them with him. Since then, the working group has been working to finalise the report and is developing an action plan to enable the relevant Departments and offices to commence the implementation of agreed priority actions. The report and action plan will detail any legislative or regulatory changes that may be required and will include a detailed timeline for implementation.

From the emerging recommendations presented to the Minister for Finance and the consultations carried out since they were presented, it is likely that the report will address nine key areas and will feature in the region of 40 recommendations.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and acknowledge that considerable work has been done on this issue in recent months. I also commend him on his commitment to tackling this serious problem. When will Deputies have sight of the recommendations? The Minister of State indicated the senior Minister was provided with an initial set of recommendations at the end of October. When will we have these recommendations and when will the overall report be published in order that Deputies can get a sense of exactly what is being recommended? When does the Minister of State expect to begin the process of implementing the recommendations?

I note that figures produced by the Central Statistics Office today indicate that motor insurance costs have decreased by 8%. This could be an anomaly as it is difficult to read much into one month's data. Nevertheless, I hope it is a straw in the wind which indicates that change is coming. It is important that the Minister of State makes a statement that there will be change and clear and concrete recommendations will be produced to deal with the root causes of spiralling motor insurance premiums. I would be grateful if he responded on the specifics around timing.

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Michael McGrath for acknowledging the work being done by the working group. A very committed group of people has been working behind the scenes and spending a great deal of time trying to address this serious problem.

There are approximately 40 recommendations covering nine areas. These were presented to the Minister with minutes of the meetings and some background information on the consultations that have taken place. Significant work and research are being done to flesh out the recommendations and the reasons we are proposing them. We are trying to put together timelines.

When I met the joint committee at the beginning of September, I gave a commitment to appear again, once the recommendations had been submitted to the Minister, to explain the thinking behind them and ensure the committee was made aware of what we were hoping to achieve. I also want to hear about the committee's hearings on the issue and ensure everyone in the House is on the same page in order that proposals for regulations or legislation can be progressed as quickly as possible. With this in mind, as soon as the joint committee is ready to engage on the issue, I will be pleased to explain to it each of the recommendations and outline the thinking behind them.

The intention is to have the report published in December. We have already put out the framework for the report, if one likes, and substantial research has been carried out by the subgroups. We are getting there and our priorities now are to ensure the various stakeholders are in agreement on what we are seeking to achieve and to set out a detailed timeline. Not every measure will be implemented immediately and some will take time. We need to work to a specific timeline and set targets in order that we can meet them.

Some of the recommendations will be to expedite work that is already under way. For example, it is already possible to roll out automatic number plate recognition technology but the issue for us is to ensure its roll-out is expeditde. Another recommendation will be on expediting the review of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. Some of the recommendations will be in areas on which work has already begun. It is a matter of tying the work together.

While the CSO data are helpful, we need to see a trend.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I accept the Minister of State does not propose to publish the recommendations now but will he give us a sense of the broad areas they cover? Will legislation be required to deal with some of the issues? Most important, having examined this issue in detail in recent months, does the Minister of State expect the recommendations, if implemented, to make a difference in terms of the premium increases people have experienced in the past three years or thereabouts? The litmus test will be whether we can stop these increases and bring some degree of normality back into the market. I expect the recommendations will deal with many of the key issues around the data gap, awards, fraudulent and exaggerated claims and the role of legal costs and court awards generally.

Will legislation be required for some or many of the recommendations? Will their implementation make a difference in respect of premiums?

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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As the next question is on the same issue, I ask the Minister of State to respond to Deputy Michael McGrath when replying to Question No. 2 as the time for Question No. 1 has elapsed.