asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce when the Insurance Industry Committee will announce its findings.
46.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Irish Insurance Industry.
45.
andMr. Donnellan asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if there is any indication as to when the report of the committee investigating the Irish insurance industry will be available.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 45 and 46 together.
I understand that the Insurance Industry Committee is pressing ahead urgently with its task of producing an interim report on motor insurance. The committee has found its task more complex than had at first been anticipated, and it is not possible to say at this stage when exactly the interim report will be completed, but I expect that it should be available by the autumn.
Can the Minister do anything in the meantime to stop insurance companies from increasing premiums by over 100 per cent in many cases despite the ceiling of 17½ per cent imposed by the Minister? Is he aware they are obliging many car owners to take out new contracts? They are not renewing the old ones but allowing a fortnight or three weeks to elapse and then sending out forms for the taking out of new contracts, and in some cases have increased premiums by over 100 per cent?
It is the insurer who would allow the insurance to lapse rather than the——
No. Is the Minister aware that insurers and their brokers have written to insurance companies a month before the insurance was due to expire; they have failed to reply but have waited for a fortnight or three weeks after the insurance has expired and then sent out new contracts forms, and have increased their premiums in some cases by well over 100 per cent?
150 per cent.
They have made them take out new policies?
The problem is the loadings. It seems that in an northern county like Cavan there are loadings of 100 per cent. If the driver is under 30 and if he is single it is increased further. Are the companies to be allowed to put a premium of £108 on a mini-Minor where there has been no claim and the driver is over 25? I might say that but for the alliance group the situation would be hopeless altogether.
Would the Minister consider declaring a standstill order until such time as this report is available? Like the Deputy who has asked a number of supplementaries before I did, I have a case of a neighbour who——
We cannot discuss individual cases.
The Deputy made this point and I think I am entitled to make it also.
The Deputy is not entitled to do so.
You allowed another Deputy to make the point.
I did not allow anyone to raise a specific case.
There is a case of a £35 third party insurance for which for no apparent reason, an insurance company sought £101. I should like the Minister to look into this.
As I have already conveyed in reply to Question No. 44, not the questions to which I am replying now, Nos. 45 and 46, I certainly believe that loadings by some of the companies are exorbitant and, as I have said, I have actually taken up a number of individual cases with insurance companies. The fact that I am not happy about the situation was indicated last August when I set up this inquiry. The imposition of a standstill, as Deputy Donnellan has suggested, is not practicable at this stage. Even if the inquiry takes a little longer than was originally anticipated because of the various complications, if it can provide a suitable formula it will have done a tremendous amount of good.
In view of the widespread nature of the complaints that a number of insurance companies are trying to jump the gun on any report that may be issued, does the Minister not think there is a strong case, irrespective of individual applications that may have particular circumstances, for a directive to the insurance companies to hold their hand until the report is issued?
On the other hand, a number of insurance companies have been claiming that they have been losing money on motor accident insurance. If I were to issue a directive I might finish up without active insurance companies covering motor risks of this nature.
Would the Minister say what is the justification for a company charging £110 for comprehensive car insurance while the Private Motorists Protection Association accepted it for £45 and they consider they are on good ground? Although there was no accident history or anything else the difference was £65.