Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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222. To ask the Minister for Finance when the key information report on employer and public liability insurance claims will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31438/19]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware from previous Cost of Insurance Working Group’s (CIWG) update reports that a data template was developed by the data sub-group of the CIWG and this was submitted to Insurance Ireland by Minister of State D’Arcy on 18 May 2018.  In it, he requested that the completed data submission be returned by the end of Q3 2018 to allow sufficient time for the production and publication of the Report by the end of Q4 2018.  

Since then, my Department has corresponded with Insurance Ireland about receipt of a completed data submission, however Insurance Ireland has informed my Department that it has not been in a position to provide such a submission, due to the volume and complexity of the data to be collected.  They also indicated that they had instigated a procurement process for a third party to assist with this exercise and that they were liaising with their members. 

I understand that these consultations are continuing with members but that the focus is now on the feasibility of being able to provide the data requested.  They expect to provide a substantive update to my Department on feasibility shortly.  Accordingly, it is not possible for me to publish this key information report at the moment.   

While I recognise that this exercise is complex and that Insurance Ireland has never compiled this level of data with regard to employer and public liability insurance before, and ultimately it is a voluntary exercise, I think that this delay is very unfortunate and demonstrates the importance of the Central Bank of Ireland’s consideration of the potential for expanding the scope of the National Claims Information Database to cover employer and public liability insurance.