Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to join the wide condemnation of insurance companies and to call out their carry-on. Everybody is supposed to be sitting at the table, including the Minister and all the stakeholders, to try to find a resolution to the crisis in the insurance industry, which is crippling motorists, businesses and crèches, and taking money out of people's pockets with the premia they have to pay.

The most recent report published by the Central Bank showed the insurance companies have no bona fides in this regard. They keep pointing to fraudulent claims and the size of awards. Everything is pointed at except the fact that, so long as they are nursing their profits, they do not mind. It is quite shocking that premia on motor policies have gone up by 42% in the last ten years when the cost of those claims is down 2.5%.

I support the Minister in his efforts. The insurance companies have to be made accountable for their carry-on. I believe that, on the whole, we have to look at the amount that is being awarded in claims, given we know we are ahead of averages in many other countries. The law of negligence and the duty of care are very broad, and to try to curtail that is another issue. However, if people think they are in a position to argue they have been failed in a duty of care towards them, whether by a council or some other public body or private business, they will always do that. It is about the amounts they are getting. People have gone to the courts and have seen what others got money for, and have seen that was not a fraudulent claim. If people trip over their own feet but someone else was the cause, they could be compensated. The fact there has been a lot more coverage of this by the media means people might think this is fraud. It is not fraud; it is the way the law of our land is. Either we cap it and get to grips with it, and deal with these insurance companies which are putting money in their back pockets, or we will be putting a lot of trouble on our citizens.