Results 3,261-3,280 of 4,002 for speaker:Rose Conway Walsh
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: I ask Ms Murray to comment on what happened earlier this week in terms of IPB Insurance and the court case. She will be familiar with that. IPB Insurance issued High Court proceedings and it wanted them to be held in secret. That sounds very strange.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Yes.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: I am really glad to see the representatives from FBD insurance here today. I thank Mr. McMahon for his opening statement. It is extremely useful to have the witnesses here to answer some of the questions we have. I have a number of questions, the first of which is how much did FBD pay out last year on claims?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: How much did FBD take in from premiums?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: So that is a fair profit. Profits were up 41%. Is that right?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: They are up 41%. At another meeting of this committee last year Mr. Cahalan said "Just follow the money" in the context of another reason for increased premiums. In light of that massive profit increase, will it be reflected in the cost of premiums for FBD's customers now?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Is it Mr. Cahalan's view that when people see those profits they could reasonably expect a drastic decrease in premiums? This could be applied to any company.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: We really have to get to the crux of this. We are running out of patience on this issue. We need insurance prices to come down. We have talked about this for the last three years. The witnesses are from the insurance company that happens to be here. I am really running out of patience with all of this. We need emergency legislation. The witnesses are telling us what we need to do and we...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: It is a very profitable business and we just want fairness for citizens. I am sure the witnesses would share that idea of fairness and transparency for customers as well.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Okay. We can go on to risk management practices. The witness has stated that risk management practices were to be put in place and this would reduce premiums. Risk management practices are now in place and have been in most of the marts for the past two years. When will marts see the decreases reflected in those actions taken in risk management?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Have claims decreased in marts over the past two years because of risk management measures that have been implemented?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: How much have they gone down?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: So FBD has a monopoly on mart insurance.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Right. One mart manager tried to gather information on premiums, costs and claims, and that person said every roadblock was put in place to prevent that happening. When she organised a meeting with all the marts, the representatives would not go.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Yes. That was three days beforehand.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: The witnesses will not meet with mart managers so it is just the representative bodies.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Okay. With many claims that are paid, there is little or no evidence that any injuries were caused or sustained on mart premises but the insurance company has settled. Mart managers are very unhappy about 80% of those settled claims. Why are the claims being settled?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: The witness is right in that sense. If the mart is not negligent and there is no evidence to back up the claim, why are the claims being paid in the name of the marts? Is it not then too easy to then pile on whatever amount is claimed to the premium holder? It seems to be what is happening.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: Is there closed-circuit television in all the marts so there could be evidence of what is happening? Surely that must reduce the number of fraudulent claims.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Costs for Small and Medium Businesses: Discussion (4 Apr 2019)
Rose Conway Walsh: How many fraudulent claims has the company reported to the Garda?