Jim O'Keeffe
Ceist:80 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the way in which he monitors adherence to the Insurance Acts by insurance intermediaries.
Written Answers. - Insurance Acts Breaches.
Jim O'Keeffe
Ceist:81 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the number of complaints about breaches of the Insurance Act, 1989, which have been received by his Department; and the number of prosecutions which have followed.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 80 and 81 together. Under Part IV of the Insurance Act, 1989, responsibility for the day to day regulation of insurance intermediaries rests with insurers on the one hand, and the Irish Brokers Association in respect of its members on the other. The latter association is a representative body of insurance brokers recognised by me, under section 44 of the Act, as a self-regulatory authority.
My Department monitors the manner in which insurers and the Irish Brokers Association discharge their regulatory responsibilities, mainly through the Advisory Committee on the Regulation of Insurance Brokers. This committee comprises officials from my Department and representatives of the Irish Insurance Federation, the Irish Brokers' Association and the Insurance Intermediary Compliance Bureau, which bureau is the regulatory agent of the insurers.
Where an insurance intermediary fails to satisfy the regulatory authority, either the Irish Brokers' Association or the Insurance Intermediaries Compliance Bureau, of compliance with regulatory obligations, agency appointments which enable him-her to act as an insurance intermediary, are terminated by insurers.
My Department receives complaints-queries on a daily basis about the cost, availability and marketing of insurance. However, where the substance of these complaints-queries does not constitute breaches of the Insurance Acts, including the 1989 Act, the question of prosecution does not arise.
To date, following identification of possible breaches of the 1989 Act and examinations by authorised officers of my Department, reports on two former insurance intermediaries have been forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for consideration as to prosecution. Decisions on prosecutions of such cases are a matter for that office.