Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 2

Written Answers. - Insurance Costs.

Brian O'Shea

Ceist:

147 Mr. O'Shea asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her proposals to improve the situation whereby a self-employed truck driver who has two trucks on the road and a full no claims bonus is paying ?17,500 a year for insurance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13451/02]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms Harney)

I am very much aware of the substantial increases in insurance premiums that many businesses and individuals are facing and of the problems this is creating for them.

The pricing and underwriting of insurance is, however, a matter for individual insurance companies. EU law prevents me and the Department from intervening in relation to the matter of premium levels or in respect of what risks they are prepared to underwrite. Insurers make decisions on provision of cover based on their assessment of that particular risk.

The insurance industry has pointed to a number of factors, both domestic and international, to explain these increases. These include the high cost of settling claims, the general reduction in investment returns, recent court decisions regarding the calculation of compensation losses in personal injury cases and the effects of the attacks of 11 September in the United States. The situation has not been helped by the failure of the UK authorised insurer, Independent Insurance Company Limited, which had a significant presence in the Irish market.

However, the Government intends to tackle the high costs of insurance by way of the comprehensive set of measures which we have put forward in our Agreed Programme for Government.

The Agreed Programme for Government contains a commitment to implement urgently the recommendations of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board, MIAB.

The implementation group, which was set up at the end of April 2002, is making good progress on preparation of an action plan to give effect to the 67 recommendations. The action plan, which I intend to make publicly available, will contain a target timeframe for implementation of each recommendation by the Department or body concerned.

The Agreed Programme for Government also contains a commitment to establish the personal injuries assessment board, PIAB. Towards that end, I expect shortly to present to the Government, in accordance with the usual procedures, the report of the interdepartmental implementation group, which I can confirm I received recently. I intend to make the report public after it has been considered by the Government. I am confident that the establishment of the PIAB will achieve a reduction in the delivery costs of personal injury compensation, thus permitting a reduction in insurance costs to consumers.