Results 8,221-8,240 of 11,952 for speaker:Paul Murphy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Is €89 million four and a half times €19 million, approximately?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: That is about 20% of the total premiums. Would Mr. Bradley say it is fair to say that the extortionate profits made by the insurance companies are a substantially greater contributor to the very high levels of premiums than fraudulent claims?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Last year the company's profits made up approximately 20% of its total premiums whereas what Mr. Bradley described as fraudulent claims made up 4% to 4.5%.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Mr. Bradley describes €19 million as 4% to 4.5% so doing the mathematics upwards one ends up with close to 20% of the company's total premiums. Mr. McGrath referred to three factors and Mr. Bradley also referred to three factors. Why does Mr. Bradley not mention the very high profit rates in the company as being a contributing factor?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Let us look at it over a reasonable period of time. For example, the Central Bank figures, which are accurate, indicate that from 2002 there is a total profit of over €3 billion for insurance companies operating in Ireland. Is that not the case?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: I am certain that is the figure. We used it in the report we produced. At that stage it was €2.8 billion according to the Central Bank but since then there have been a couple of years of good profitability so it is over the €3 billion mark. That is a healthy enough profit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: If that €3 billion had not gone in profit to shareholders since 2002, would that not have resulted in a collective reduction in premiums of approximately €3 billion? It is the profit people pay for in their premium. They do not get any benefit from it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: That is if one accepts that the insurance industry must be run on a for-profit rather than a non-profit basis. That is the premise and it is a private company. To follow that logic, the company's shareholders expect the company to make a profit so if the cost of claims were to be reduced, would the company not be under some pressure from its shareholders to see that a portion of that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: If Mr. Bradley could see that a large portion of a reduction in the cost of claims could go to profits, would he not do that? That is how a company operates. It operates to maximise its profit.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Dr. Cyril Roux appeared before the committee during our hearings with the Central Bank and he described that as an act of faith - it is faith in the market that a high rate of profit will result in more entering and so forth. However, it is not the case that there is an automatic correlation between the cost of claims going down and premiums going down because there is an intermediate factor...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Mr. McGrath and Ms Muldoon should feel free to respond. I believe that the insurance companies have a deliberately crafted narrative about why people face such outrageously high premiums and it is about fraudulent and excessive or too high claims. What is always left out of the narrative, not coincidentally, is profit and the substantial profits made by the insurance companies over an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Sector: Discussion (4 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: The company will not take any of it in profits.

Cork Mail Centre: Motion [Private Members] (3 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: This is not only about the important issue of the jobs of the workers in Cork. It is also about the future of postal and delivery services in Ireland. It is clear that with the changing model of retail, parcel delivery services are a part of the logistics more generally and are an increasingly central part of the economy. This is an area of rapid growth, as illustrated by the fact that the...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (3 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Bogus self-employment and part-time work.

EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement: Statements (3 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: "This trade deal is a double whammy for the planet: it will exacerbate deforestation and encourage the production of big, dirty cars. This might just be the EU's worst trade agreement for the climate". That is the view of Perrine Fournier, a campaigner with the forestry NGO, Fern. Every time these free trade agreements, FTAs, are negotiated, the real character of the European Union is...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Greyhound Industry (2 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: I agree that it is not good enough. The Minister of State has expressed his deep concern at the issues that have been highlighted. However, those issues have been highlighted for years and it should not take an RTÉ exposé to make people aware or suddenly make the Government concerned. I have a letter here from 2016 that outlines these precise issues, which the ISPCA, Dogstrust...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Greyhound Industry (2 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: Every year, the Minister comes to the House when we raise objections in respect of public funding of €16 million per year for the greyhound industry. Every year, the Minister has responded by saying what an important role the industry plays in our social, cultural and sporting landscape. A small number of Deputies have been consistently raising the issues highlighted in the "RTÉ...

Written Answers — Department of Defence: Civil Defence (2 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: 151. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence his views on reports that the Civil Defence could be prevented from assisting at community events due to issues relating to the licence from the Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council and assurances from his Department; if all steps are being taken to avoid same taking place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28152/19]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Water Charges (2 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: 706. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason Irish Water treats householders as if they are businesses and charges them for water they use in their property if the householder has a rainwater harvesting system which they rely on exclusively for agricultural purposes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28153/19]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Double Taxation Relief Orders 2019, Swiss Confederation and Kingdom of the Netherlands (2 Jul 2019)

Paul Murphy: A concern that tax justice activists and academics have about double taxation agreements is that they often do not function to avoid double taxation but instead function to, in effect, enable double non-taxation, for corporations to avoid paying tax here when they would have to but also to avoid paying tax in another country because that country does not tax that activity in that way. Does...