Results 10,041-10,060 of 35,575 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: This one is not in it because the Minister of State signed off stating it was complete.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I have been challenging this issue for well over a year. Insurers have not been acting honestly, professionally or with integrity. The Government has been hoodwinked by the industry. The Government has stated the recommendation is complete and insurance companies will publish the reasons premiums would increase at renewal. On Aviva's website, for example, how many times does the Minister...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: It does not mention dual pricing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: It has issued its second report which stated that the reason prices are going up at renewal is because of dual pricing. It has stated that home insurance will go up by 35% and motor insurance by 25%. These companies, which have a legal responsibility under the consumer protection code to act fairly, honestly and with integrity with their consumers, have basically lied to the Government and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I will talk about dual pricing in a minute. That is not the issue, however. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and I am sure he wants to tackle this issue. However, he signed off on a report in October stating that this action was satisfactorily completed and that insurance companies were telling their customers why premiums were increased. It is odd if the Minister...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: Does the Minister of State believe insurance companies have acted honestly, fairly and professionally, and in the best interests of their consumers, when they published information like this which did not acknowledge the fact they were involved in dual pricing?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: Dual pricing has been written about by the likes of Charlie Weston for many years. I have a had a serious number of engagements with the Central Bank in the past year in written correspondence, a private meeting with the Governor and a submission of the major report. The two key findings in that report were that dual pricing was widespread and that the tables show the longer a customer is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the Central Bank's reports, which confirm everything I have said, but the organisation has a role in consumer protection and should have been doing this itself. The Central Bank should not have had to be told by a Member of the Oireachtas to carry out this work. It is way behind the curve on this matter. These insurance companies have been practicing dual pricing for ages. What...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I know that. There are 2.5 million customers with policies of this nature who are renewing and are being fleeced. It is our job to protect them. I will make a final comment on this because other members want to come in. I am publishing legislation. We have worked for a number of months on this and have worked with the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers on good legislation that will...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: No, it is for motor and home insurance. It will seek to ban dual pricing and give the Central Bank the powers to address issues, for example, to finesse the policy. It will ensure that a renewal customer has to be treated in the same way as if that renewal customer was a new customer with the same firm. As the Central Bank has found, and as the FCA and others have found, if a person is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Insurance Issues: Minister of State at the Department of Finance (16 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I am aware that the Minister of State is relatively new to the position. I encourage him to read the FCA's interim and final reports. I also encourage him to read the cost-benefit analysis that suggests up to €12 billion benefit from the industry to consumers, and also suggests how banning dual pricing would increase competition. It is interesting when one tracks what the FCA is...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Nursing Education (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: 70. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if funding will be made available to fund a bursary scheme for student nurses who have worked during the pandemic. [43309/20]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I welcome the witnesses. The tracker mortgage examination has taken up a large part of this committee's work in previous years. Unfortunately, we have not concluded with it. These are statements I would have made to the Central Bank when it issued its final report in July 2019. I know the Chairman was also very vocal in saying that there were outstanding cases. When the Central Bank...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: What would have happened to those 5,900 people if that single individual had not taken a case to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: They received €1,650.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: I understand all that. What would have happened if that single individual had not taken a case to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: A total of 5,899 people who were affected did not take a case to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman. If that individual had not taken the case, they would not have got up to €30,000 in compensation because the Central Bank had finished its supervisory role when it completed its examination into that part. Is Mr. Sibley suggesting to me that when the Central Bank...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: What is Mr. Sibley saying? I want to focus on this. I appreciate the way the examination was set up. People have the right to raise the matter with the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman and the right to seek redress in the courts but the Central Bank has a consumer protection role.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: With all that goes on in banks and insurance, I understand it is very difficult for the Central Bank to spot what is happening and usually something is spotted after the fact or on foot of a consumer's complaint. However, in this case, we are six or seven years into a major scandal where money was wrongly taken from the accounts of 40,000 people with respect to overcharging. People lost...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Banking Issues in Ireland: Central Bank (15 Dec 2020)

Pearse Doherty: The Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman is not before me and I am not asking that office how it dealt with its consumer protection role. Witnesses from the Central Bank are before us. The bank has a statutory obligation in terms of consumer protection. The witnesses were fully aware through the tracker mortgage examination that banks had been fleecing their customers. Members of...