Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

24. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to deal with the rising cost of motor insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50714/17]

Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

36. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he has taken to curtail the exorbitant increase in motor insurance costs; the further steps planned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50792/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 24 and 36 together.

The Deputy should note at the outset that in my role as Minister for Finance I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation. Neither I nor the Central Bank 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 the risks they are willing to accept.

However, it is acknowledged that pricing in the motor insurance sector has been subject to a lot of volatility in recent years and this phenomenon was the main impetus for the establishment of the Cost of Insurance Working Group in July 2016. Its Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance was published in January 2017.  The Report makes 33 recommendations with 71 associated actions to be carried out in agreed timeframes, which are set out in an Action Plan. 

Work is ongoing on the implementation of the recommendations by the relevant Government Departments and Agencies and there is a commitment within the Report that the Working Group will prepare quarterly updates on its progress. 

The third such update was published on 23 October 2017 and shows that 32 actions were due for completion in the first three quarters of the year in total and 29 of those actions have been completed to date.  Substantial work has also been undertaken in respect of the nine action points categorised as “ongoing”.

Of the three actions which have not been fully completed to date, two of them relate to the same recommendation, which requires the approval of the Minister for Justice and the Garda Commissioner for potentially far-reaching cooperative mechanisms between Insurance Ireland and An Garda Síochána to be formalised.  The other outstanding action is contingent on the establishment of the new Office of the Legal Costs Adjudicators, now scheduled for 2018.

The fourth quarterly update should be published early in the New Year and will focus on the 14 actions which are due for completion in the third quarter of 2017. All of the remaining actions are scheduled to be completed before the end of 2018.

It should be noted that the most recent CSO data (for October) indicates that private motor insurance premiums have decreased by 15.2% since peaking in July 2016.  While the CSO statistics indicate a greater degree of stability on an overall basis, these figures represent a broad average and therefore there are many people who may still be seeing increases.  However, I am hopeful that this greater stability in pricing will be maintained and that for the majority of drivers their premiums should continue to fall from last year's levels.