Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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53. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount paid by the State into the Insurance Compensation Fund for each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9030/16]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Finance the amount paid to the State from the insurance levy for each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9031/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 53 and 54 together.

The purpose of the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) is to provide a certain minimum level of protection for insurance policy holders should an insurance company go into liquidation. The Fund also allows insurance company administrators to apply to the High Court for funding where necessary in order to enable them to meet their financial obligations as they arise.

The Central Bank of Ireland has responsibility under Section 6 of the Insurance Act 1964 to carry out an annual assessment of the needs of the Fund and, where it is of the opinion that the state of the Fund is such that financial support should be provided for it, it is allowed to determine an appropriate contribution to be paid to the Fund by each insurer, or insurer authorised in another Member State, in relation to insured risks in the State.

Where there are insufficient funds available to enable payments out of the Fund to be made expeditiously, Section 5 of the Insurance Act 1964 allows the Minister for Finance to advance the necessary monies to the Fund in the form of a repayable loan, on the recommendation of the Central Bank. Such advances are  subject to interest charges.

The ICF Levy is paid into the Insurance Compensation Fund. The following table sets out the amounts advanced from the Exchequer to the ICF and amounts repaid from the ICF to the Exchequer for the period 2011 to 2015.  These payments are published in table 1.7 of the annual audited financial statements of the Exchequer (the Finance Accounts) which are available on .

ICF Payments from and refunds to the Exchequer

The following table sets out the amount of the ICF levy received in the years 2011 to 2015.  The levy is set by the Central Bank at a current rate of 2% of gross written non-life insurance premiums received in respect of risk in the State.

There are no ICF levy payments recorded in the table for 2011, as the levy was re-introduced in January 2012.

Total ICF levy received

These figures, which are submitted to me annually by the Accountant of the Courts of Justice, are laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and published annually on my Department's website in the annual Report on the Administration of the Insurance Compensation Fund.