Results 5,801-5,820 of 6,295 for speaker:Michael D'Arcy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: It is a far more varied sector than motor insurance. There is a great difference between a play zone and a nightclub or a play zone and a business that might be a meat factory. There is a massive difference between the sectors in terms of business employer liability, EL, and public liability, PL, versus the motor sector, which is fairly standard and where the difference is the range of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: The date we have, and we are putting a warning on this as the feasibility may turn out to be very different when the work starts, is that the Central Bank plans to produce a feasibility report for the cost of insurance working group by the end of this year in respect of EL and PL and data submission requirements. However, we are seeing that this is a far more different and varied sector than...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: I will respond to those points. We wrote to the committee last February. The media have done a good job highlighting cases that needed to be highlighted, but I must warn that I have a concern. The vast majority of claims are legitimate, where people's lives have been impacted by the carelessness, recklessness or negligence of somebody else. They are entitled to damages. Not all cases are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: I have heard this position being presented before, that not-for-profit insurance companies are the way forward. However, those companies would be obliged to adhere to the same Solvency II rules as a for-profit company. They would have to adhere to the same EU directives on insurance and capitalisation as a for-profit company. While the figures look very rosy, the issue is that they are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: Can I just make the point that with the profitability-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That is what is happening sector by sector.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: Everything we are doing is to stop that. Since the cost of insurance working group was established, we have tried to put in a better sector. The levels of awards are the most significant issue. The committee recently met representatives from the child care sector on this issue. The State does not fix the prices for the kids’ zones. We do not tell them what they charge their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: I am making the point about individual sectors. The State does not do it but a regulator may. What I meant is that the Government does not do so. We are trying to ensure we have a proper market which is sustainable like it is in other jurisdictions. The UK and continental markets are much more stable than ours. The levels of compensation awards for minor injuries in England and Wales are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That is good because we do not always agree.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: Yes. I am being clear that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: In the interests of the consumer.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That is why we are increasing transparency with the national claims information database on motor insurance. We will be doing a granular analysis within the sector to see how profitable it is. That is why, towards the end of this year, we want to move it towards a thought process that will take that into employers’ liability, EL, and public liability, PL, analysis. That is a bigger...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: However, the awards have gone up.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That is why we are trying to fix it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That report is with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That is a matter for the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: That was passed on to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. I met a taxi company recently and spoke to an insurance company to see if it would be prepared to conduct a pilot programme on the installation of dash cams and black boxes so that it could get data on the speed the drivers were doing, whether they were within the speed limits and whether that would produce a reduction for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: The cost of insurance working group operates with several Departments: Justice and Equality, Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Transport, Tourism and Sport, and Finance. It also involves the State Claims Agency, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, and the Central Bank. While I chair the group, the actions are a matter for each Department. My role is to push each Department to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: I pushed that on to the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport but my role is not, and I do not have the authority, to tell the Ministers what to do or to deal with it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (13 Jun 2019)

Michael D'Arcy: No. I will clarify it. There are several opinions on this and that is a matter for-----