Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for coming in today but I am going to express my absolute disappointment with the answer. We have two pages of an answer and there is just one paragraph that mentions there will be a transparency code by the end of the year. I know it is not due to the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, but I really would have liked a more detailed answer. The response states that there is "a working group comprised of industry representatives, the Department of Finance, and the Central Bank" so we can see there are not stakeholders involved in that. I work very closely with the Alliance for Insurance Reform and it really is an excellent body in this area.

The questions I had were: what is the primary objective of the code? Will we see meaningful disclosure in how our premiums are calculated? Will there be verification? Will we be reviewing this whole process? It is about redress and safeguarding policyholders so they actually understand everything, especially older people trying to figure out their premiums. The number of people who say to me, "Oh my God, my insurance was €600 last year, this year it is €700 and I have not had a claim." It is so frustrating.

I am looking for an answer on this one thing that we are supposed to have done by the end of the year - it is now 3 or 4 December; I do not even know what date it is - and there is one relevant paragraph in the answer. I knew everything else in the reply. We all know about everything else, about all the work we are doing, and I am very grateful we are doing all of this work. Considering it took two weeks for me to get this Commencement matter selected, I would have thought I would have had a better answer on how the transparency code is going and what it actually means for people. I thank the Minister of State but I am just a bit disappointed.