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Motor Insurance Costs

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 February 2019

Tuesday, 12 February 2019

Questions (159)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

159. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Finance the status of efforts to reduce the cost of car insurance; the number of recommendations and associated actions from the report on the cost of motor insurance which have been completed to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6503/19]

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Written answers

The seventh quarterly update on the progress of the Cost of Insurance Working Group (CIWG) was published last November and shows that of the 59 separate applicable deadlines within the Action Plan of the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance set to the end of Q3 2018, 45 relate to actions which have now been completed.

It is envisaged that the next quarterly Progress Update will be completed by the end of this month and concentrate in particular on outlining the definitive position in relation to all of the 33 recommendations from the Motor Report as the last of the deadlines within its Action Plan passed at the end of 2018. When published, the next quarterly Progress Update will thus update the information supplied in response to a recent Parliamentary Question submitted by the Deputy (4215/19).

At this juncture, I would just like to highlight some relevant recent legislative developments since the last quarterly Progress Update was released.

The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018 has completed its passage through the Dáil and is before Second Stage in the Seanad today (12 February). Once enacted, this will strengthen PIAB by addressing operational issues to ensure greater compliance with the PIAB process and encourage more claims to be settled through the PIAB model. In particular, the Bill deals with the issues of non-attendance at medicals and failure to provide details of special damages or loss of earnings.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Ireland published the Non-Life Insurance (Provision of Information) (Renewal of Policy of Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 in December, which will improve the level of premium information available to consumers as well as extending the renewal notification period.

And, perhaps most notably, the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act was commenced on 28 January. The aim of the database is to improve the level of transparency and the availability of information in the insurance sector by facilitating a more in-depth analysis of annual trends in motor insurance claims.

More details in respect of these pieces of legislation will be included in the eighth Progress Update, which will be available on the Department’s website.

Finally, I am hopeful that the continued implementation of all the recommendations from the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance – in addition to those in the CIWG’s Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance and the two reports of the Personal Injuries Commission – can help to maintain and expand the positive trend which has seen private motor insurance premiums decrease by 22.16% over the last two-and-a-half years.

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