Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the Minister of State to the House this evening and thank Senator Mullen for bringing this important Bill, which we support, before us tonight. As colleagues have said throughout their contributions tonight, it is very hard to believe that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act, as amended, does not provide for any penalties for giving false or misleading information to the board in the course of an application for an assessment of a claim for personal injuries but we are told that is currently the case. That is what Senator Mullen addressed in his contribution and what he is trying to address through his Bill. As has been said, the Bill proposes to amend three sections of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 to provide for penalties for those who provide information that is false or misleading.

There have been a number of contributions on the reports on the insurance industry in Ireland published by the insurance companies in recent years that have suggested that the cost of fraud to the Irish insurance industry could be as high as €200 million. Insurance companies have stated in the past that they suspect 20% of cases may involve exaggerated or fraudulent claims. However, it is a little harder to get information on the exact number and the number of reported cases under investigation is much lower. Previous debates in the Oireachtas have concentrated on discussions around these numbers and the number of ongoing investigations. It is interesting that a recent survey I came across that had been carried out on behalf of one of the insurance companies in Ireland found that 86% of survey respondents believed that people who commit insurance fraud are motivated to do so because they believe they can get away with it. The survey, conducted by KPMG, found that 70% of people in Ireland believe that it is unethical to overstate an insurance claim. What the other 23% might think should worry everyone. It is very important to state that it has been announced that the Government has established an insurance fraud co-ordination office under the control of the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau. As others have said, that is welcome. With regard to the reports I have mentioned tonight, we also need to address what is happening and, more importantly, discourage any dishonesty.

We must fight insurance fraud in order to protect genuine policyholders and other groups, many of which are community groups that continue to struggle to raise money for their ever-increasing insurance bills, as has been mentioned. As I have said in the House before, I deal with many community groups that are seeing their insurance bills rise and rise again. I hope the Bill the Minister of State and his Government are proposing will address this once and for all because, at the end of the day, those community groups are doing a lot of good work in all of our communities but are put to the pin of their collar in trying to come up with money to cover those ever-increasing insurance bills, which are not justified. A community organisation I am involved with has seen an increase of €500 in its insurance bill over the last five years, which is simply not sustainable for a small community group representing 400 households. As I said before, it is the genuine persons and businesses that have been mentioned and these community groups that ultimately end up footing the bill for these fraudsters.

We simply cannot continue to suffer premium hikes and, in certain cases, the wasting of Garda resources and strain on our health services as accidents are staged and false claims made and facilitated. The effects of insurance fraud are far-reaching and have the potential to damage many individuals and areas of our State. We need to challenge it. I thank Senator Mullen for bringing forward his Bill. I look forward to discussing it further as it passes through the House.