Vol. 541 No. 3
63 Mr. Ring asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will confirm the legal status of the people who were insured with a company (details supplied) following its recent collapse; and the compensation to which they are entitled. [21565/01]
Independent Insurance Company Limited – IICL – was a UK authorised insurer; responsibility for the financial supervision of the company's operations throughout the European Economic area therefore lay with the UK authorities.
The Financial Services Authority – FSA – in the UK has indicated that IICL policies purchased by private policyholders in Ireland appear to be UK policies for the purposes of the UK policyholder Protection Act and are, in principle, protected policies subject to the policyholders meeting all the other requirements of the Act. The FSA also indicate that protection will be limited to 90% and that policyholders will, in principle, be entitled to return all unexpired premiums up to 90%, provided their policies contain a cancellation condition regarding return of premium, on cancellation. We understand from the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland that, in the case of third party claims arising under policies covering compulsory third party insurance, obligation may be made of the bureau for the recovery of insurance cases not otherwise recovered as a result of the failure of IICL.
