asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will introduce legislation to protect consumers from the implications of the decision of the High Court in a case (details supplied) whereby the non-disclosure of information of a trivial kind by the consumer in a proposal form for home insurance allowed the insurance company, on a strict interpretation of their rights, to repudiate all liability on a claim.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Insurers' Codes of Conduct.
5.
As the Deputy will be aware, section 61 of the Insurance Bill, 1987, which completed all stages in Dáil Éireann on 22 February 1989 enables the Minister for Industry and Commerce, following relevant consultations, to prescribe "codes of conduct" to be observed by insurers in their dealings with proposers of policies of insurance and policyholders renewing policies of insurance in respect of duty of disclosure and warranties.
My Department have already commenced discussions with the Irish Insurance Federation with a view to having such codes of conduct introduced as early as possible. The Deputy can be assured that our objective is to encapsulate in the codes of conduct to be drawn up requirements in relation to disclosure and warranties which are just and equitable from the point of view of the insurance consumer and insurance companies and which will deal with the Deputy's concerns in this area.
Would the Minister agree that it is disgraceful that in this case a very large insurance company should have relied on the small print of a contract in regard to the non-disclosure of information, which the court admitted to be trivial information, to achieve the defeat of a legitimate claim by a consumer who was not in a position of contractual equality with the company? Would he further agree that in advance of the code of conduct which I know he intends to introduce, it would be appropriate for him now to make a public statement here deprecating this practice by companies and appealing from this House to companies not to engage in such tactics?
The Deputy is, of course, referring to a particular case which has been dealt with by the courts. I would not propose to comment on it in any way. The Deputy has expressed during the course of the debate on the Insurance Bill his opinion on this matter. On his prompting I introduced an amendment to that Bill as it went through the House which I am fully happy will deal completely with the Deputy's concerns in this area, in that it is my intention to lay down a code of conduct which will deal specifically with the Deputy's concerns.
Given the negotiation that will occur with regard to the precise wording of the proposed code of conduct, would the Minister not agree that it could be quite some time before it takes effect? In the meantime insurers continue to rely on Keenan v. Shield Insurance Company to prevent people from making legitimate claims on house policies. Does the Minister not agree that he should now use his authority here in this House this day to ask companies not to rely on that legal judgment and to ensure that policy claimants are treated equitably and fairly and not in the fashion that occurred in this case, based on the strict interpretation of law?
We are having an element of repetition now.
I presume that the industry will take note of the reply to this Dáil question today, that is, it is my intention to introduce codes of conduct to deal with the type of problem the Deputy has brought to our attention. With regard to the time scale, this will not take very long because we have had some discussions with some of the interests involved and are moving very quickly on the matter.