Skip to main content
Normal View

Insurance Industry

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 April 2019

Wednesday, 17 April 2019

Questions (42)

Michael McGrath

Question:

42. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance his legislative and policy priorities in the area of insurance reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18000/19]

View answer

Oral answers (6 contributions)

The fact that three of the five priority questions have been dedicated to insurance underlines just how grave the current situation is. It really is a crisis point for many businesses throughout the country. Many have closed and others are on the brink of closure. This House needs to offer some solutions and we need to be clear and specific about when these solutions will be in place. For example, the Minister said he hopes to have the Judicial Council Bill 2017 enacted this summer. When will the revised guidelines be in place and when will they influence the level of awards being granted in cases that go all the way through the court system? Will the Minister indicate when that one practical measure will be in place?

I will refer to the actions that have been taken because the Deputy is correct that this is a matter that has dominated priority questions but as I am sure he will appreciate regardless of whether it is dominating these questions I am aware of how serious the issue is and of the work that the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, is doing to tackle this issue.

Before I answer the Deputy's specific question I want to point to what has already happened. I refer to the work the Garda Síochána is continuing to do in this area of which there will be more in that space. The Minister has engaged with the Garda Commissioner on that. I refer to the work the Garda Síochána is doing in collecting statistics regarding a new insurance fraud category to further aid our analysis of what we can do to tackle this issue. I refer also to the amendment of sections 8 and 14 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act of 2004 to ensure defendants are appropriately notified of a claim having been submitted. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Act 2019 commenced at the start of April. I refer to the work that has been done on the Central Bank (National Claims Information Database) Act, which has been commenced. While its initial focus is on motor insurance, the information being generated will be of help in dealing with this broad area.

To answer the question the Deputy put to me, the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, has already stated and I share his view that if and when the Judicial Council Bill is implemented and passed by the Seanad before the summer recess, we hope the guidelines the Deputy is referring to will be in place by the end of this year. However, I have to recognise that this is a judicial council. It is independent in its work and if we begin to be perceived to be interfering with that independence, let alone do it, we undermine its independence and therefore its effectiveness. Neither I nor I am sure the Deputy want to do that but we hope that soon after the passage of this Bill the issuing of guidelines can be dealt with by the council.

It is great to see the Minister answering questions on insurance because it seemed to me at times that the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, has been a lone voice in Government talking about insurance. I am glad to see the Minister taking these questions as the Minister serving in Cabinet with responsibility.

The bottom line here is that there are sectors of business in this country to which an Irish insurer is not willing to offer cover. It is all very fine for people to bash the insurance companies, and I will do that too when I need to do it, but that they will not even provide insurance to certain sectors tells us there is something fundamentally wrong. The nub of this is when those award levels, particularly for soft tissue injuries, will come more into line with other jurisdictions as set out in the Personal Injuries Commission report.

When it comes to fraud, notwithstanding the reference the Minister made to one case which I am not familiar with, the general view is that there is no deterrent to somebody taking a bogus claim. I am certainly not aware of cases that have been brought right through the system. We have tried to get data from the Courts Service and the Minister for Justice and Equality. There is no data. We cannot get any data whatsoever as to the number of cases brought before the courts relating to alleged insurance fraud, not least the number of actual convictions. Could we start by getting some useful data because there seems to be no down side to people chancing their arm and taking a fraudulent claim? It seems to be a no-lose situation.

I agree with the Deputy that the matter has to move beyond simply attacking those within the industry. That is why the work the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, has done is so important because he is looking to tackle some of the root issues that are contributing to this problem. I also agree with the Deputy that if costs in this area for those who are providing insurance are high, and higher versus elsewhere in Europe, that will have an effect on the pricing and availability of policies. We need to call out areas in the industry that we believe need to change. We are doing that but we also need to address issues they are raising in an effective and fair manner.

On the point the Deputy put to me regarding information on deterrents within our court system, I believe we will have information available on that in an accessible manner within the next number of weeks. We will then share that with the Oireachtas committee so that the Deputy will be able to see it.

In terms of my role on this issue, I am absolutely committed to making further progress on this matter to support the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, in his efforts and to addressing this issue further myself, not only because of the issues Deputy McGrath and other Deputies have raised but also because of the issue this presents to our economy overall.

In terms of specifics, the Minister is expecting some announcement shortly on the work of An Garda Síochána around insurance fraud. We do not know the nature of that but this has been long promised and we are expecting some announcement. Let us hope it is tangible and positive.

The Minister is expecting and taking the caveat on board that it depends on the speed at which the judicial council, once established, gets its work done but he is hoping and expecting that by the end of this year there will be revised guidelines, which the Judiciary will have to reflect in the level of awards. I say to the Minister, and I have had this discussion with the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, that when he is bringing forward the details of the Judicial Council Bill in the Seanad and when it completes its journey in this House, if he allows too much wriggle room for the Judiciary and if they only have to have regard to these new guidelines then it will be a waste of time. There will always be a certain degree of discretion allowed but we know what happens in cases where there is too much discretion. Essentially, the guidelines become redundant very quickly. This has to be tightly framed to make sure that the new levels of awards set out in the guidelines are reflected in actual award levels.

Regarding the timelines the Deputy restated on the basis of what I said to him a moment ago, that is correct. However, to be clear again it is a matter for the judicial council, when implemented, and the content of its guidelines. If the House or I as Minister begin to determine or look to influence its work it would set us down a path of undermining the council and the effect it may have on an issue on which we all want to see progress. All of the comments I make about this issue recognise the independence of the Judiciary and the contribution it may make to progress on this issue.

That allows me to address the point the Deputy has raised about wriggle room. The legislation we bring forward has to respect the independence of the Judiciary but the Government is committed to respecting its independence and looking to make progress on an issue we know is of huge importance by use of peer review and trying to develop more expertise regarding the effect of these rulings on vital matters in our economy and our society.

Top
Share