Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Finance the engagement he has had with the insurance industry to ensure that any reduced cost of claims as a result of the newly adopted personal injuries guidelines will be passed onto consumers in the form of lower insurance premiums; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17478/21]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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On 6 March, the new personal injuries guidelines were adopted by the Judicial Council. They will cut the cost of awards by, in some cases, 60%. They will significantly reduce the cost of claims for insurance companies. What commitments, if any, has the Minister received from the industry to date that it will pass these savings on to customers? How will the Government measure those commitments?

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to bringing about meaningful insurance reform, as is reflected in the programme for Government. The action plan for insurance reform contains 66 actions across several departmental policy areas. Its implementation is overseen by a Cabinet subgroup on insurance reform, which met last week. Achievements to date include the adoption of personal injury guidelines by the Judicial Council, which has significantly reduced many common injury award levels, and the creation within my Department of an office to promote competition in the insurance market, headed by the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming.

The Deputy will be aware that last week the Minister for Justice introduced amendments to the Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill to implement these guidelines. As such, they will be in place ahead of schedule and many claims should shortly begin to be assessed by both the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, and the Judiciary using these rather than the book of quantum. This should mean more consistency and bring more certainty to claims for insurers and thereby underscore the benefits of using PIAB. This in turn should reduce the cost of claims, particularly legal fees. In addition, I hope the improved insurance operating environment will help to attract new entrants into the market, thereby increasing competition.

I reiterate the strong expectation of the Government that insurers responding to this key reform in a positive and generous manner need to do this by passing on savings to consumers and businesses. The insurance industry has previously committed to reduce premiums in line with lower award levels and I and the Government will hold it to account on this pledge. The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, is meeting individual insurance companies in relation to this and we will track our progress through the data set from the Central Bank on public liability and employer insurance.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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If I renew my motor insurance tomorrow morning and am unfortunate enough to be in a soft tissue accident, the award paid out would be about, on average, 60% less. Therefore, the insurance company, as of my renewal tomorrow morning, should be charging me a lower premium. Is that factual? We can look back to when representatives of the insurance industry were lobbying for these awards to be cut. They told us to a person that if they did not reduce insurance premiums for motorists in the region of 15% to 20% after having awards cut by 50%, then politicians should ask hard questions. These awards should be reduced right now. There is no need for delay but there is a need to be able to measure this. That is why I am disappointed that the Government was going to vote against an amendment to this legislation I put forward last week that would allow the Government to measure what the awards would be if the legislation was not introduced giving effect to the guidelines and to measure what the premium would be. That would make sure insurance companies passed on, pound for pound, all the reductions that have been secured.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government put such effort into the passage of the guidelines and gaining agreement to their implementation because of the commitment the Government has to reducing the award levels. We expect this, in turn, to have a significant effect on premiums and costs, which we accept are critical and difficult issues for many holders of private insurance policies and, in particular, employers at the moment.

We will track this through the work the Central Bank will do. It published the very important data set that allowed us to better understand things that were happening in the motor insurance sector. It is best placed to do this work. Now that these guidelines are in place, while respecting the independence of our courts, the point of having the guidelines is our expectation that they will begin to affect decisions made by our judges in cases in front of them now.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I wish the Minister would join me in calling for these premiums to be reduced right now. There is no reason premiums are being charged at yesterday's or last month's rates when awards were 60% higher.

Does the Minister know what AIG, Axa, Allianz, Zurich and a number of other companies have in common? They are the largest six companies in Ireland and they are also the largest six companies in Britain. Does the Minister know what the difference is? When Britain reduced the awards for whiplash, they introduced legislation in 2018 which made the companies prove to their central bank, the FCA, that every cent was passed on to consumers. Last week in this Chamber I attempted to do the same thing. Will the Minister explain why the six largest companies in Ireland have to provide that information to the central bank in Britain for the reduced awards that took effect in 2018 there, but he believes they do not have to provide the same information to the Central Bank here? The Minister says he will rely on Central Bank information but it does not have a key piece of information which I tried to legislate for last week but the Minister's party and Fianna Fáil opposed it.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is standing up here and one of the main things he is thinking about is how he can generate accusations about me and imply the Government is not taking this seriously. We brought in this legislation and made these changes. We welcome the fact that the Judicial Council has issued guidelines that are consistent with the Government's aim of reducing the level of awards made in our courts. I respect the role of the Central Bank and the work it does in gathering data on this. It is best placed to do this. We will then look at the impact of the work the Government has been doing and which has now been reciprocated by the Judicial Council to deal with what is, we accept, a really serious issue. I reiterate that I expect that as awards change in our courts, so will the cost of insurance. That will take account of the serious progress made by this Government on a serious matter.