Recommendation 25 of the Cost of Insurance Working Group's ‘Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance’ (January 2017) recommends the establishment of a ##fully functioning, integrated fraud database for industry to detect patterns of fraud, to be managed by an independent not-for-profit body and to be funded by industry.
As recommendation lead, my Department established a working group to progress the related action points. The Group is made up of representatives from my Department, An Garda Síochána’s National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), Insurance Ireland and the Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland (MIBI). The Group has completed a report, which includes recommended parameters for the database, who will be responsible for administering the database and disseminating data and how the database will be funded.
The report of the Group was submitted to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) and, in response, the ODPC has strongly endorsed the Group’s view that detailed Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) will be required in order to justify the potential addition of new datasets to the existing Insurance Link database, and the increased sharing of data. The ODPC also recommends that further work needs to be undertaken to detail the evidential requirements for the creation of a new database or the enhancement of the existing Insurance Link database.
The application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) later this week and the related data protection legislation, which I launched with Minister of State Breen in February this year, will have a significant impact on any new data sharing arrangements between industry members and between the industry and An Garda Síochána. As such, the establishment of any new data sharing structures will require careful consideration against the impending changes to the legislative landscape.
As a starting point, it is necessary for a review to be undertaken by the insurance industry of the information held on Insurance Link in the context of the GDPR. It is also necessary for the industry to assess in more detail what specific additional data is proposed to be shared and in what additional circumstances such data is proposed to be shared. It is essential that a critical balance is identified to ensure that data sharing between insurers is maximised while, at the same time, the data rights of the public are protected. Any changes, therefore, to the existing data-sharing arrangements for the purposes of Insurance Link must be proportional to their effect.
I am informed that Insurance Ireland expects to complete a detailed DPIA in this regard by the end of August 2018.
The Deputy will appreciate that, as further progress on Recommendation 25 will depend upon the outcome of this DPIA, it is not currently possible to provide a definitive timeframe for the establishment of the database. However, I can assure the Deputy that all action points associated with this recommendation have been completed, with the exception of the one longer-term action relating to the preparation of criminal justice legislation, if required, and the implementation of the database. The deadlines for these long-term matters have yet to be reached (Quarters 2 and 4 of 2018 respectively) although they cannot be progressed until the DPIA has been completed by Insurance Ireland.
As regards the Deputy’s query regarding the availability of the existing Insurance Link database to participants in the Irish insurance market, I am informed that access to this database is not exclusively available through or dependent on membership of Insurance Ireland. I am further informed that the effectiveness of the database in combatting insurance fraud is boosted by the increased number of entities who use this tool. However, the recommendation in the January 2017 Cost of Insurance Working Group report was for the database "to be managed by an independent not-for-profit body" and therefore any new database must be independent of industry.
