Vol. 553 No. 2
142 Mr. O'Shea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her proposals to control the annual increases in car insurance for drivers in their late fifties and older; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13392/02]
The pricing and underwriting of insurance is a matter for individual insurance companies and EU law prevents me or my Department from intervening in relation to the matter of premium levels or in respect of what risks insurance companies are prepared to underwrite. Insurers make decisions on provision of cover based on their assessment of that particular risk.
The Agreed Programme for Government contains a commitment to implement urgently the recommendations of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, MIAB.
The implementation group, which was set up at the end of April 2002, is making good progress on preparation of an action plan to give effect to the 67 recommendations. The action plan, which I intend to make publicly available, will contain a target timeframe for implementation of each recommendation by the Department or body concerned.
Under the Equal Status Act, 2000 any individual who considers that he or she has experienced discrimination, within the meaning of the Act, may refer a complaint to the Director of Equality Investigations for investigation or mediation. Among the areas of potential discrimination are age or sex of an individual.
The Agreed Programme for Government also contains a commitment to establish the personal injuries assessment board, PIAB. Towards that end, I expect shortly to present to the Government, in accordance with the usual procedures, the report of the interdepartmental implementation group which I can confirm I received recently. I intend to make the report public after it has been considered by the Government.
