Vol. 487 No. 4
82 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has satisfied herself that insurance costs are at a level which is affordable by industry, with particular reference to public liability; the factors, if any, which might tend to increase the cost of insurance; the extent to which public liability insurance has increased in the past ten years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4186/98]
122 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps, if any, she intends to take with a view to achieving a reduction in public liability insurance cover; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4401/98]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 82 and 122 together.
Insurance costs for public liability, which includes product liability, protects the policyholder against claims for personal injury or material damage caused to any member of the public.
The Deloitte and Touche report on an Evaluation of Insurance Costs in Ireland found that, over the period from 1985 to 1994, the number of public liability claims remained fairly constant, averaging about 15,500 per annum, while the average cost of claims, increased by about 8 per cent per annum, in real terms.
The consultants' comparative survey of liability costs in 1995 in selected EU countries, based on sample quotations for a number of small and medium-sized companies, showed that the average UK public liability quotation was 59 per cent of the Irish average and in Denmark was 13 per cent of the Irish average premiums quotation. For total liability, including public liability and employers' liability, the average premium quotation in the Netherlands was 14 per cent of the Irish premium and, in France, the average premium quotation was 90 per cent of the Irish average quotation.
In assessing the significance of the comparisons of liability premia, Deloitte and Touche concluded that the higher levels of expenditure on social protection by other EU countries relative to Ireland meant that, because State health and social welfare expenditures in these other countries covered substantially more of the costs of sickness and disability arising from workplace and other personal injuries, the level of liability insurance cover required by employers in the other EU countries was less than in Ireland. The consultants found that countries, with proportionately higher levels of social protection expenditure than Ireland, have lower net written premia for liability insurance. For example, the Netherlands expenditure on social protection in 1993 was 33.6 per cent of GDP, compared with 21.4 per cent for Ireland; while net written liability insurance was 0.07 per cent of GDP in the Netherlands, compared with 0.65 per cent of GDP in Ireland.
A special working group, established under the aegis of our Department, will be looking at social protection coverage in other EU countries as part of the group's examination of alternative systems of delivering personal injury compensation.
