Results 12,281-12,300 of 35,658 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Which the Minister of State proposes to delete.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: There is much there and some of the amendments have quite a bit of substance. I welcome amendment No. 40. It places the duty on an insurer to notify a consumer when a claim is made against them. It is madness that the insurance companies will not do that voluntarily and we have to legislate to ensure they must tell somebody a claim is made against them. More importantly, it is not just...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It provides an obligation to engage with the person that a claim is being made against and to accept material or a submission from that individual which would be of assistance to them in determining the settlement of the case. It is welcome. Amendment No. 41 deletes the wording that the insurer will pay in a reasonable time. However, the consumer protection code is not on a statutory...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Amendment No. 42 relates to the deferring of payments of a claim. This limits the retention to 5% of the claim settlement offer, where the claim settlement offer is below €20,000, and to no more than 10% of the claim settlement offer, where the claim settlement offer is €20,000 or above. I welcome this amendment because some of the activity of holding back claims is...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: It is a welcome amendment because of what the industry is doing in terms of retention. On small claims 5% and 10% are perhaps appropriate, if there is appropriateness to any of this, but on a larger claim that is a substantial amount of money. I will look at the matter again. I signal that I intend to bring possible amendments, in terms of the figures, to this section on Report Stage. I...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I will ask the opposite question. Without this provision, what is there to protect consumers from an insurer who unreasonably withholds or delays payment of a valid claim?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Okay, we will not dwell on it. We might come back to it on Report Stage.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Amendment No. 45 is significant. I cannot get my head around why the first part of section 15(5)(a) is being deleted. This section deals with proportionate remedies. The intention is that where an innocent party is part of a joint insurance contract and is completely innocent but the other party to the contract is guilty of insurance fraud, that the innocent party should not have his or...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I will discuss amendment No. 67 as it is not a technical amendment. This group of amendments has substance. Amendment No. 67 states that in the case of awards, that if one fails to comply with the Act, a court can reduce the award made. If the company was going to pay €20,000 but if one failed to comply with a portion of the Act, the award could be proportionately reduced, for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: I understand that.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Is the Minister of State saying there is no way that a Circuit or District Court could award anything in excess of the thresholds that they have or should it not be the case that there should be a separate award? Why would it be seen as one award in that case whereas, if somebody was to-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: There should be an additional award to the person because the insurance company has acted unlawfully or in non-compliance with the Act. Why would there not be a separate award that would allow the combined-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: But if there are two awards.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Say I had an accident and was awarded €15,000 by the District Court. I get that valid claim of €15,000 but if the insurance company, in dealing with my case, was not in compliance with the Act, there should, therefore, be a separate award to me which, both combined, would breach the threshold but would be not breach of it in its individual parts. The section is written-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is what this section provides for.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: This section allows for a situation where I have a personal injury claim of €10,000 which is to be paid out, but if the insurance company is in breach of the Act, the courts can raise that to €15,000.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: This an important section because it deals with the issues of warranties. It is bizarre that this goes back to the 18th century and merchant shipping and so on. I want to be clear about the effect of the section on existing warranties. Section 16(3) states: Any term in a consumer contract of insurance which purports to convert any statement referred to in subsection (2) into a warranty...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: Say I am running a business and have a chat with the person in the insurance company and I say I have good security for the business and all the rest.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: That is a conversation but, when this section comes into effect, the insurance company is not allowed to convert that statement or conversation with me into a warranty on the basis of contract and, if they do, it would be invalid. It must be part of-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill 2017: Committee Stage (11 Jul 2019)

Pearse Doherty: -----the contract. Is it correct that that will only apply for future contracts?