Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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26. To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he is taking the cost of motor insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9958/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the Cost of Insurance Working Group was established in July 2016 and undertook an examination of the factors contributing to the increasing cost of insurance in order to identify what short, medium and long-term measures could be introduced to help reduce the cost of insurance for consumers and businesses.

The initial focus of the Working Group was the issue of rising motor insurance premiums and the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurancewas 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 regular updates on its progress. The seventh such update was published last November and shows that of the 59 separate applicable deadlines within the Action Plan set to the end of Q3 2018, 45 relate to actions which have now been completed. Substantial work has also been undertaken in respect of the nine action points categorised as “ongoing”.

Key recommendations from the Motor Report that are currently being implemented are:

- The Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018 commenced in January 2019 to enable the Database to become fully functioning and to report later this year; this should provide a greater level of transparency in order to understandfor instance how claims costs impact premiums.

- The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018 has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas and forwarded to the President for his consideration and signature; this will allow amongst other things the review of cases where there is a non-attendance at medicals and where there is refusal to provide details of special damages.

- The finalisation and publication of the two reports by the Personal Injuries Commission, which are currently being actively considered with a view to seeing what can be done to deliver interim guidelines relating to appropriate general damages award levels for the soft tissue/whiplash injury category.

It is envisaged that the implementation of all the recommendations cumulatively, with the appropriate levels of commitment and cooperation from all relevant stakeholders, should achieve the objectives of delivering fairer premiums for consumers and a more stable and competitive insurance market.

In this regard, it should be noted that the CSO CPI statistics indicate that pricing in the private motor insurance market has stabilised over the last year or two and I welcome the direction of travel which this index has displayed since it peaked in July 2016. However, it is accepted that premiums may still be at a high level for many people.

Finally, it is expected that the next Progress Updatewill be completed in the coming days and published shortly thereafter. The Update will concentrate in particular on outlining the definitive position in relation to all of the 33 recommendations from the Motor Report as the last of the deadlines within its Action Plan passed at the end of 2018.