Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 February 2019
58. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the number of insurance awards paid out in each of the years since 2010 in respect of claims related to employer liability and public liability insurance, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10157/19]
View answer59. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the amount paid by policyholders by way of insurance premiums in each of the years since 2010 in respect of employer liability and public liability insurance, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10158/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 58 and 59 together.
At the outset, it is important to note that while as Minister for Finance, I am responsible for the development of the legal framework governing financial regulation, my Department does not collect the type of information being sought by the Deputy. Further, I understand that the Central Bank of Ireland does not have access to market-wide data on claims paid and premiums received for Employers Liability and Public Liability Insurance. For example it does not have data with respect to firms that are passporting into Ireland on a freedom of services basis.
I would note however, that the Cost of Insurance Working Group, in its Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance, published data in relation to both types of insurance that it had received from Insurance Ireland, in Chapter 4 of the Report. In this context, there is financial year data provided for the years 2011 to 2016 relating to the number of claims reported in each of the years, certain key financial indicators such as gross earned premium, investment income, gross incurred claims, gross management expenses and gross commissions. The Deputy may find this useful in relation to his immediate enquiries.
The Deputy should note also that Recommendation 4 of the Report requires the Department of Finance to publish a Key Information Report for employer and public liability insurance. In this context, the Department has asked Insurance Ireland to provide a more detailed data on claims paid and incurred claims, to be augmented with data on settlement rates, policy counts, and disaggregated by an accident year basis. This request was submitted to Insurance Ireland in the first half of 2018. The Deputy will also note that it has not been possible for the Department to fully implement this Recommendation as Insurance Ireland, who do not routinely collect such information either, has found the exercise of compiling this data complex and has signalled to my Department that it needs further time to complete this exercise. I am hopeful that Insurance Ireland will be able to submit the requested data shortly so as to allow my Department to commence production of its Report.
In addition, the Deputy will be aware that the Oireachtas recently passed the legislation to provide relevant powers to the Central Bank of Ireland to establish the National Claims Information Database. The Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018 was commenced by the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act 2018 (Commencement) Order 2019 (S.I. 2 of 2019) on Monday 28 January 2019. The Central Bank plans to collect claims data for the National Claims Information Database from insurance undertakings in the first half of 2019, with a view to publishing its first annual report under the legislation in the second half of the year. It is expected that the Central Bank will collect and publish motor insurance claims information in respect of the last 10 years, including the number of claims reported and settled, the amounts paid on claims, the incurred cost on claims (i.e. the amount paid plus the outstanding amount to be paid, if any), and the actuarial estimate of the final cost of claims i.e. ultimate costs.
While the National Claims Information Database will focus on private motor insurance initially, the underpinning legislation has been developed in such a way as to allow its scope to increase over time. In this regard, the Cost of Insurance Working Group recommended in its Report on the Cost of Employer liability and Public liability Insurance that by the end of this year, the Central Bank produce a report on the merits and feasibility of collecting employer liability and public liability insurance data for inclusion in the National Claims Information Database.
