Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the levies currently being applied to home, motor and commercial insurance, including a history of each of the individual levies; and his views on the timeframe that he expects each levy to remain in place. [4251/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should note that the only levy being applied to home, motor and commercial insurance is the 2% Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) levy which operates under the Insurance Act 1964 and came into effect from 1 January 2012. It is expected to generate €65 million a year and will have to repay the €890 million advanced to date by the Exchequer to the ICF and on which a commercial rate of interest is applied. The timeframe for its application is expected to be in the region of 15 years. It should be noted that a number of variables may impact on this time period, the most important of which is an increase in the volume of non-life insurance products sold in the future. A higher figure for this would lead to a larger annual amount being generated by the 2% levy. The ICF levy should not be confused with a 3% stamp duty on non-life insurance premiums introduced in 1982, which is often referred to as an insurance levy. This Stamp Duty forms a part of general stamp duty receipts and is paid into the Central Fund along with other tax receipts. The ICF levy has only been applied once before to meet the liabilities of an insolvent insurer when it was introduced on 1 January 1984 following the collapse of PMPA. The levy was paid by all non-life insurers at a rate of 2% until 31 December 1991. The rate was reduced to 1% from 1 January 1992 to 31 December 1992 and ceased to apply from 1 January 1993 as it was felt that sufficient funds had been collected to enable the successful completion of the administration of the former PMPA.