Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2018
145. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Finance his views on broadening the focus of the industry-led forum for consumer and business issues as recommended in the cost of insurance working group report. [4050/18]
View answerIn fulfilment of Recommendation 9 in the Action Plan of the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance, Insurance Ireland set up the Business and Consumer Forum in March 2017 and invited relevant stakeholders to the first of its biannual meetings.
The Report recommends that the forum is “industry-led” and consequently this explains why Insurance Ireland as the main representative body for insurance providers - with 95% of those companies operating within the country being members - were tasked with organising it.
The first meeting of the Forum took place on 16 May 2017 concentrated on the motor insurance sector and was attended by representatives from:
- Insurance Ireland
- Department of Finance
- Central Bank of Ireland
- Financial Services Ombudsman
- Competition and Consumer Protection Commission
- Consumers’ Association of Ireland
The focus of the second meeting of the Forum then moved to the business sector. It was held on 10 January 2018 and a wide range of relevant stakeholders were invited to attend. The following stakeholders attended the Forum:
- Insurance Ireland
- RGDATA
- IBEC
- ISME
- Licensed Vintners’ Association
- Vintners Federation of Ireland
- Society of the Irish Motor Industry
Also invited but unable to attend the Forum was the Irish Hotels Federation and the Restaurant Association of Ireland.
Further meetings of the Forum will be organised by Insurance Ireland on a biannual basis and the particular focus of such meetings will be determined in due course.
It is believed that putting in place a structured approach for ongoing engagement between the insurance industry and relevant stakeholders will improve the quantity and quality of communication between providers and consumers, producing a deeper understanding of the pertinent sectorial issues on both sides.
On the basis of the above, I am satisfied that the focus of the Forum has been sufficiently broad to date as it has covered some of the main problem insurance areas, namely motor and business insurance. I believe its remit will continue to evolve over the next 12 months.
