Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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238. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason the Central Bank decided to discontinue the blue book for the insurance industry; if the Central Bank will reinstate it; the document or programme which has taken the place of the blue book; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15423/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, the Deputy should note that the decision to discontinue the production of the Blue Book is an operational matter for the Central Bank of Ireland, and I in my role as Minister for Finance have no influence over it. 

Notwithstanding this, my officials have had some engagement with the Central Bank on this matter. In response, the Bank has indicated that, the tables in the annual Insurance Statistics publication, known as the 'Blue Book' were extracted from the Solvency I forms which were completed by the industry and were publicly available (in the Companies Registration Office).  However, with the transition from Solvency I to Solvency II (in place since 1 January 2016), this information is no longer available to the Bank, as these forms are no longer completed due to the underlying data  now being valued on a Solvency II basis.  This change in prudential regime means unfortunately that the time series has been broken.  I understand that to reinstate the Blue Book in its old format would require an additional reporting burden on the industry  and would in effect means a dual reporting system for insurers which would almost certainly have cost implications. 

I appreciate that the discontinuation of the ‘Blue Book’ may be regrettable to particular interested parties, however I understand that those interested parties seeking data at company level can find such data in publically available reports which are required of all insurance undertakings under the Solvency II regime.  These reports are known as the Solvency and Financial Condition Reports (SFCRs).  The SFCRs include a detailed narrative report on the insurance undertaking coupled with key quantitate reporting templates that contain premiums, claims, expenses, technical provisions, solvency and other information.  All SFCRs for 2016 are made available by the Central Bank in a dedicated SFCR repository which can be accessed at .

In addition, the Deputy may be aware that the Central Bank publishes harmonised data that is consistent and comparable with other insurance supervisors in the EU.  The first data on the new regime was published in August 2017 covering 2016 - Aggregate Statistical Data, which can be accessed at: https://www.centralbank.ie/regulation/industry-market-sectors/insurance-reinsurance/solvency-ii/supervisory-disclosures. 

Finally, the National Claims Information Database will produce an annual statistical analysis of the factors related to the movement in claims costs / claims trends which will contribute to the improvement of data availability in the insurance sector.  This is still under development and by way of update to the Deputy, my Department is currently working with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and the Central Bank in drafting the legislation required to underpin the National Claims Information Database and it is hoped that the relevant Bill will be published by this summer.