Vol. 538 No. 1
68 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in regard to her comments to the annual lunch of the Irish Insurance Federation in which she said the Government was unhappy with the rate of increase in motor premiums, she will now state the action she intends to take; the specific measures for price control she is considering; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17211/01]
The matter of rising insurance costs has been a matter of concern to Government for a number of years. The cost of insurance is related to the cost of claims. Our Department currently has three initiatives in place to address this issue.
Following studies which showed that the cost of delivering personal injury compensation through the courts can be as high as 40% of total costs, the Government recently decided to approve the establishment of a personal injuries assessment board, PIAB. An interdepartmental implementation group has been set up to progress the establishment of the board, with the PIAB becoming operational in 2002. It is expected that all personal injury claims arising from employer's liability and motor insurance would have to be referred to the PIAB.
The motor insurance advisory board, MIAB, has been charged with advising us on motor insurance costs and, in particular, with examining the relationship between the incidence of claims and the premiums charged for various classes of policyholder identified by age and sex. This is the issue of most interest to the policyholders. The final report of the MIAB is expected at the end of this year and any further action will be decided upon at that stage.
