Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 February 2019
57. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Finance the progress being made on the introduction of an index to track employer and public liability insurance costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10156/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy is aware, the Cost of Insurance Working Group (CIWG) made a recommendation that the Central Statistics Office (CSO) consider the feasibility of collecting price information on the cost of general liability insurance for businesses in the State and report to my Department on this by the end of 2018.
I have been informed that the CSO submitted a draft report to my Department in December 2018 on the work undertaken on the feasibility study to date. Subsequently in January, it presented its final report to the CIWG and I understand that the CSO will publish this Report shortly.
The Report outlines in broad terms the challenges that will be faced in developing a business insurance index, in particular the much more heterogeneous nature of the market compared to the relatively homogeneous motor insurance market. This much broader based sector creates significant methodological and practical challenges that would need to be overcome in order to produce a price index which accurately reflects changes in price in this area. For example a decision would have to be made as to what products would need to be tracked consistently which best represents the overall market.
I understand that in its Report the CSO has examined a number of options, many of which it has concluded are not feasible. However, I also understand that the Report also does outline one potential option which it believes warrants further exploration, and it intends doing so over the next number of months to see if it can make such an index operational.
