Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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144. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he has taken to regulate the providers of car insurance here to combat the excessive premium increases being quoted over the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6810/17]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation.  Neither I nor the Central Bank of Ireland, can interfere in the provision or pricing of insurance products, as these matters are of a commercial nature, and are determined by insurance companies based on an assessment of the risks they are willing to accept.  This position is reinforced by the EU framework for insurance which expressly prohibits Member States from adopting rules which require insurance companies to obtain prior approval of the pricing or terms and conditions of insurance products.

However, I do accept that it is possible for the State to play a role in helping to stabilise the market and deal with factors contributing to the cost of insurance.  Consequently, I established the Cost of Insurance Working Group and appointed Minister of State Eoghan Murphy as Chair.  The Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance was finalised in December 2016, approved by Cabinet on 10 January 2017, and subsequently published.  It contains 33 recommendations and 71 actions which are detailed in an action plan contained in the Report with agreed timelines for implementation, covering six main themes:

- Protecting the consumer

- Improving data availability

- Improving the personal injuries claims environment

- Reducing the costs in the claims process

- Reducing insurance fraud and uninsured driving, and

- Promoting road safety and reducing collisions

The recommendations include actions to:

- address the lack of transparency in the claims environment, through the establishment of a national claims information database which will be located in the Central Bank;

- provide enhanced guidance in how to determine compensation for personal injuries claims, through the establishment of a Personal Injuries Commission;

- address the increasing level of uninsured driving, through the establishment of a fully functioning database which will allow the Gardaí to check insurance compliance through the use of technology such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition; and

- address the issue of suspected fraud, through the establishment of a database that will be funded by industry but held by an independent body and that will take into account data protection concerns.

A number of the actions are already underway and I am confident that the report's 71 actions will be implemented by the end of 2018, with 45 due for completion this year.

While there is no silver bullet to reduce the cost of insurance, cooperation and commitment between all parties can deliver fairer premiums for consumers without unnecessary delay.  This will lead to greater stability in the pricing of motor insurance and will help prevent the volatility that we have seen in the market in the past.  It should also better facilitate potential new entrants to the market.

The Working Group will continue to meet in 2017 as the project enters its implementation phase.