The Deputy will be aware that a number of initiatives have been undertaken to identify the underlying causes of motor insurance costs in Ireland, including the high cost of insurance for young drivers. A major report on the economic evaluation of insurance costs completed by Deloitte & Touche in 1996 indicated that there was no uniform market price for motor insurance due to factors such as differing assessments of claims histories by insurers, strategies towards niche markets, specialisation and segmentation of the market. Within these parameters, motor insurers quoted widely different premiums for similar risks and this is characteristic of a competitive market.
It would appear that the implementation of EU legislation, opening up the EU market to competition from all European insurers, has had a beneficial effect on competition in the Irish market. More recently, the abolition of the cap on brokers commissions should introduce further competition into the market.