Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 19 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 3

Written Answers. - Insurance Premiums.

John Gormley

Ceist:

38 Mr. Gormley asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action she is considering to counter the escalating costs of employer's liability and public liability insurances, and household and motor insurances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14011/02]

Bernard J. Durkan

Ceist:

41 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her proposals to address the serious issue of insurance costs here with particular reference to the high cost of motor insurance and public liability insurance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14078/02]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 41 together

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.

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 An Agreed Programme for Government.

An 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.

An 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.

The social partners have committed themselves in recent partnership proposals to improving health and safety standards in the workplace. As part of this commitment, the Workplace Safety Group, which enjoys the support of the HSA and social partners, is promoting a workplace safety code on safe working and accident prevention. The objectives are to reduce workplace accidents, to encourage injured workers to return at the earliest possible date to the workplace and to improve claims handling procedures, thus reducing insurance costs. The establishment of an office to promote workplace safety with a chief executive and administrative assistant has been proposed. My Department will be involved in providing financial and other assistance towards getting this initiative off the ground.

Complementary to the measures foreseen by the Government, discussions have taken place with ISME, IBEC, the Irish Insurance Federation and other bodies and enterprises concerning the availability and cost of insurance. I encourage them to develop, in consultation with their clients, innovative strategies for controlling risk.