Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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275. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps taken to deal with fraudulent insurance claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23107/18]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Cost of Insurance Working Group was established by the Minister for Finance in July 2016. The objective of the Working Group was to identify and examine the drivers of the cost of insurance, and recommend short, medium and longer term measures to address the issue of increasing insurance costs, taking account of the requirement for the need to ensure a financially stable insurance sector.

A significant factor in the rising cost of insurance, identified in both the first and second reports of the Working Group (on (i) motor insurance and (ii) employer's liability/public liability respectively), is the impact of fraudulent insurance claims. As such, the reports include a number of recommendations relating to insurance fraud.

Recommendation 25 of the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance recommends the establishment of a fully functioning integrated insurance fraud database for industry to detect patterns of fraud.

As recommendation lead, my Department established a working group to progress the related action points. The Group is made up of representatives from my Department, An Garda Síochána’s National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), Insurance Ireland and the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI). The Group has completed a report, which includes recommended parameters for the database, who will be responsible for administering the database and disseminating data and how the database will be funded.

The report of the Group was submitted to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) and, in response, the ODPC has strongly endorsed the Group’s view that detailed Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) will be required in order to justify the potential addition of new datasets to the existing Insurance Link database, and the increased sharing of data. The ODPC also recommends that further work needs to be undertaken to detail the evidential requirements for the creation of a new database or the enhancement of the existing Insurance Link database.

The application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) last week and the related data protection legislation, which I launched with Minister of State Breen in February this year, will have a significant impact on any new data sharing arrangements between industry members and between the industry and An Garda Síochána. As such, the establishment of any new data sharing structures will require careful consideration against the changes to the legislative landscape.

As a starting point, it is necessary for a review to be undertaken by the insurance industry of the information held on Insurance Link in the context of the GDPR. It is also necessary for the industry to assess in more detail what specific additional data is proposed to be shared and in what additional circumstances such data is proposed to be shared. It is essential that a critical balance is identified to ensure that data sharing between insurers is maximised while, at the same time, the data rights of the public are protected.  Any changes, therefore, to the existing data-sharing arrangements for the purposes of Insurance Link must be proportional to their effect.

I am informed that Insurance Ireland expects to complete a detailed DPIA in this regard by the end of August 2018.

Recommendation 26 of the same report relates to exploring the potential for further cooperation between the insurance sector and An Garda Síochána in relation to insurance fraud investigation. Specifically, this involves considering the feasibility of establishing a specialised and dedicated insurance fraud unit within An Garda Síochána, funded by industry.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB) has engaged with Insurance Ireland, submitting a mechanism for further cooperation and a costed proposal to Insurance Ireland in the latter half of 2017. Insurance Ireland has agreed to explore the proposal further, subject to a full cost benefit analysis, to be carried out by Insurance Ireland’s Chief Financial Officers Working Group. The intention would be that such a dedicated Garda unit would be funded by Insurance Ireland members and non-members alike, i.e. all entities writing non-life insurance business in Ireland.

Further progress on this recommendation is dependent upon the outcome of this cost benefit analysis, which is currently awaited. Insurance Ireland has indicated that it expects to be in a position to provide an update in this regard by the end of June 2018.

Any proposed agreed mechanism will, of course, ultimately be subject to the approval of the Garda Commissioner and myself, as Minister for Justice and Equality.

Recommendations 11 and 12 of the Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance relate to the production of statistics relating to the number of complaints, investigations, prosecutions and convictions relating to fraud within the personal injuries area. My Department has liaised with the GNECB in relation to the production of these statistics, and I am informed that the necessary Pulse update is anticipated to be in place by the end of June 2018.

Recommendation 13 of the Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance is aimed at developing a set of guidelines in respect of the reporting of suspected fraudulent insurance claims. The aim is to have a clear path to streamline the process of reporting suspected fraud and to ensure that complaints are received by the relevant sections in An Garda Síochána.  A ‘Fraud Roundtable’ has been convened on a number of occasions to work towards implementation of this recommendation. The roundtable comprises the GNECB, my Department, the Courts Service, the DPP, Insurance Ireland and the Department of Finance.

While guidelines were published in 2004, these have only been used to a very limited extent over the years and the Cost of Insurance Working Group proposed that a new set of guidelines should be developed, using the 2004 protocol as a starting point. In line with the intention to use the existing guidelines to inform the drafting of new, fit for purpose guidelines, An Garda Síochána has produced a draft document which has been communicated to Insurance Ireland. The draft document proposed a number of changes to the section of the existing guidelines concerning the station or section within An Garda Síochána to which a formal complaint should be made. Insurance Ireland signalled its agreement with the changes proposed at the roundtable session on 26 March 2018.

At this same session, it was also agreed that further consultations with stakeholders regarding the proposed guidelines would take place, including with insurance providers not represented by Insurance Ireland, and a meeting to this effect was held on 27 April 2018, with a further meeting to be scheduled in the near future.

The Fraud Roundtable also proposes to examine the follow-on procedure in circumstances where fraud or exaggeration is identified in court or acknowledged by a judge.

Agreement on the new set of guidelines is expected to be completed on time in Quarter 3 2018.

The Courts Service and An Garda Síochána are engaging with my Department on an ongoing basis in relation to the recommendations of the Cost of Insurance Working Group.

The Deputy may also be interested to note that the Department of Finance issues regular quarterly updates on its website in relation to the implementation of the respective reports of the Cost of Insurance Working Group, the latest (fifth) of which was published on 11 May 2018.