Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 June 2018
123. Deputy Frank O'Rourke asked the Minister for Finance the progress to date on the implementation of the recommendations of the cost of insurance working group in regard to motor insurance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27912/18]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that the Cost of Insurance Working Group’s Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance was published in January 2017. The Report makes 33 recommendations with 71 associated actions to be carried out in agreed timeframes, which are set out in an Action Plan in the Report.
Work has been ongoing on the implementation of the recommendations by the relevant Government Departments and Agencies and there is a commitment within the Report that the Working Group prepare quarterly updates on its progress.
The Fifth Progress Update was published on the Department of Finance website on 11 May 2018. It shows that of the 50 separate deadlines set up to the end of Q1 2018 within the Action Plan, 40 have been met, while substantial work has also been undertaken in respect of the nine action points categorised as “ongoing”.
In relation both to the outstanding actions from previous quarters and to the remaining 12 actions scheduled for completion in Q2, Q3 and Q4 of 2018, all efforts are being undertaken in order to complete them as soon as possible. At this juncture, as highlighted in the last update report, it is anticipated that the action points likely to be delayed beyond 2018 are those related to the large-scale initiatives under the remit of the Minister of Transport, Tourism and Sport. These include the completion of the Master Licence Record project and the database to identify uninsured drivers. However, it is expected that the vast majority of the Action Plan will be completed by the end of this year.
For more information on the status of each individual recommendation, including the envisaged timeframes for completion, I refer the Deputy to the quarterly update reports. Both the Report and all of the quarterly updates are available on the Department’s website, within “The Cost of Insurance Working Group” sub-section of the main “Insurance” section. The next quarterly update report will also be published here next month.
Finally, it should be noted that the most recent CSO data (for May 2018) indicates that private motor insurance premiums have decreased by 19% since peaking in July 2016. While it is accepted that motor insurance premiums are still at a very high level for many people, such statistics indicate at least a greater degree of stability in the market on an overall basis. I am hopeful that this trend in pricing will be maintained and that premiums should continue to fall from the very high levels of mid-2016.
