Results 19,581-19,600 of 26,666 for speaker:John McGuinness
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: People are looking to the Minister of State and this committee for some sort of hope, even for the short term.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: That brings me to the point of policy and the work the Minister of State and this committee are doing, and presenting the committee's document which I believe to be a valuable piece of work which did not get the Government credit it was due for the issues it highlighted. I want to bring the Minister of State's attention to something. He said earlier that putting information on the renewal...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: With all the technology we have?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Is that a bluff, not on the Minister of State's side, but on the side of the insurance companies?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: The Minister of State went on to say that he can ask but he cannot instruct. Is it that the Government or the system, regardless of who is in officw, are afraid they will lose insurance companies? Is it a fact then that insurance companies are relying on that fear in order to increase their own profitability and protect a market that is acting like a cartel?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Insurance Ireland is charging these types of fees, preventing newcomers from interrogating the information that should be available for them in the context of the market, and the Minister of State can ask but cannot instruct. All of these are real issues that are preventing the market from expanding. The insurance companies are quite happy to tolerate that.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: I will come to that then. Senator O'Donnell was making the point that I am going to make now. Is a customer a relevant party? Is this committee a relevant party? The Minister of State mentioned relevant parties in the context of access to the database and mentioned people who make policy decisions. If that database is to be worth anything, surely it should be a case-by-case,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: The cost to whom?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Who would bear that cost?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: All the time the argument seems to be that the Government can ask and not tell and about costs to insurance companies. Quite frankly, it comes across as if the insurance companies are being minded and it is the customer who carries the can, regardless of what happens. Even to go back to the earlier point about cameras and so forth in taxis, trucks and vans, even that cost is borne by the...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: That is because it is a cartel. Maybe that is the reason.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: To deal with that, and Senator O'Donnell mentioned it earlier, customers and consumers feel now that it is absolutely useless to shop around. He made that comment and I want to agree with him, because I have shopped around.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: The Minister can take out single cases that are not the norm but there are too many cases.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: What was the exercise relevant to?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Was it just for motor insurance?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: The point is that the rest of them are being ripped off. It is almost a blatant cartel.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Yes. What is happening is staggering. Motoring insurance affects people going to work and their families and on the commercial side, taxis included, people will be affected in their pockets. The balance is simply not right. I am not being critical of the work the Minister and his officials are doing but someone has to tip the balance in favour of businesses that are finding it difficult,...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: What kind of co-operation is there between the working group and Insurance Ireland? Is Insurance Ireland forthcoming with all the information the Minister requires or does it drag its heels?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: Does that not point to where the problem is?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Cost of Insurance Working Group Update: Discussion (15 Nov 2018)
John McGuinness: In the committee's report we talk about the period between 2007 and 2012 when insurance companies generally broke even, according to the figures that are available, with profits in some years and losses in others. Between 2012 and 2014, however, insurance companies incurred significant losses, which bears out the Minister's thinking. Taken as a whole, however, insurance companies amassed...