Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 October 2016
165. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance to set out in tabular form the number of complaints to the Financial Services Ombudsman in each of the past five years that related to certain areas (details supplied). [31456/16]
View answerAt the outset, I must point out that the Financial Services Ombudsman is independent in the carrying out of his duties. I have no role in the day to day workings of the office or in the decisions which he takes.
I have been advised by the Financial Services Ombudsman Bureau (FSOB) that given the breadth and number of both insurance products and contractual terms raised by complainants in their dealings with the Financial Ombudsman's Bureau, it is not possible to capture data at this level requested by the Deputy. Details of overall numbers of insurance complaints in the years are as follows:
|
Year |
Number of insurance complaints |
|
2011 |
3443 |
|
2012 |
4064 |
|
2013 |
3835 |
|
2014 |
1955 |
|
2015 |
1973 |
However, the FSOB has informed me that, in order to provide some illustrative data, they ran a key-word search for the years in question. The results returned should be considered as illustrative, as they are based on details that were collected and recorded as a key word or category type. The FSOB has cautioned that this information is not comprehensive, as complaints could have been recorded under broader headings without disaggregation to the level sought in the question. The information is as follows:-
|
Year |
(a) "Non-Disclosure" by the consumer (illustrative not comprehensive) |
(b) "Breach of Warranty" by the consumer |
(c) "Lack of Insurable Interest" by the consumer (illustrative not comprehensive) |
(d) Refusal by an insurer to pay compensation because "Consumer deemed to be a Third party" |
|
2011 |
109 |
Data not captured |
4 |
Data not captured |
|
2012 |
122 |
Data not captured |
6 |
Data not captured |
|
2013 |
83 |
Data not captured |
2 |
Data not captured |
|
2014 |
57 |
Data not captured |
1 |
Data not captured |
|
2015 |
50 |
Data not captured |
1 |
Data not captured |
|
Total |
421 |
|
14 |
- |
