Before we begin, rather than me coming in and out, I ask Members to kindly keep to the time limits.

Last week, we had data from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, showing that the average personal injury award has fallen by 50% as a result of the new personal injury guidelines which came in to effect on 24 April of this year. This has halved the cost of awards relating to personal injury claims by insurance companies. It is clear that the reduced cost in claims is not being passed on to consumers in the form of reduced premiums. A survey I conducted since the new personal injury guidelines came in to effect found that 58% of respondents had seen their premiums increase, while only 22% saw reduction fall in their premiums. This trend has been echoed in data from the Alliance for Insurance Reform. That can only mean that these savings are being pocketed by the insurance industry to prop up its profit margins. The Tánaiste knows only too well that that was not the purpose or the objective of the new personal injury guidelines.

Yesterday, the Central Bank published a report on the employer and public liability insurance market. It highlights the insurance crisis faced by small businesses and voluntary and community groups for far too long. It found that between 2013 and 2019, the average premium for employer and public liability insurance increased by 24%. For certain sectors, this increase is shocking and completely unworkable. The insurance costs in the arts, entertainment and recreational sectors have more than doubled. Unaffordable and unworkable, the dysfunction in the insurance market damages communities, jobs and local economies. The report also found that claim costs fell by 34% over the past decade, with the number of claims made falling by 47% during the same period. We can see the same pattern when we look at the Central Bank report on the motor insurance market published earlier this year which showed the same trends of claims falling but premiums increasing. That was before the new personal injury guidelines came into effect and awards were cut by 50%, with claims costs slashed for insurance companies.

In my view and that of my party, the insurance industry needs to be brought to heel. Premiums need to be reduced for motorists, businesses and all consumers and this needs to be done without delay. We must ensure that the reduced costs in claims are passed on, euro for euro, to consumers. I have no doubt that everybody in this House believes that is the way we need to proceed. There are ways to fix this.

In April, I introduced the Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill which would require the industry to report to the Central Bank on how it has or has not passed on these savings, euro for euro, to its customers. If it has not everybody would know about it and it would allow the Dáil to hold the industry to account and to put pressure on the insurance companies to do the right thing. Similar regulations were adopted in Britain last year in response to the reduction in whiplash awards. Insurance companies that operate here, such as Aviva, AXA, AIG, Allianz, Zurich and RSA are subject to these regulations in Britain and have to show that, pound for pound, the reduction in awards were passed on to their consumers. This has to be done in an audited way. I say to the Tánaiste that there should be no less oversight here.

The Government let the industry off the hook when it delayed my Bill which had passed Second Stage for nine months. That was an incorrect decision which was made for narrow party-political reasons and which, unfortunately, has served the interests of the industry and undermined the interests of consumers. Can the Tánaiste work with us? I urge him and the Government to reverse course and to stop delaying the Bill in question and provide the Dáil with a tool to hold this industry to account. The latter will ensure what we all want to see, namely, that the reduction in awards will be passed on to consumers without delay so that we can bring the costs involved to a more reasonable level?

I thank the Deputy. We are making good progress in implementing the action plan for insurance reform, which is something I am personally committed to. As Tánaiste, I chair the ministerial committee which oversees its implementation and I am determined as the Minister responsible for business but responsible also for consumers to see the cost of insurance falls for businesses, motorists, homeowners and everyone else over the coming year.

The personal injury guidelines are in place, as acknowledged by the Deputy. The Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021 has been passed and will be enacted soon. This legislation will help us to crack down on fraudulent and exaggerated claims. The National Claims Information Database is giving us a treasure trove of information that is helping us to understand in a much better way than we did before how insurance is priced.

The Central Bank report on employers’ liability, EL, and public liability, PL, mentioned by the Deputy is an excellent piece of work. I encourage anyone interested in the issue of insurance to read it. I know that the Deputy has done so. It tells us a great deal more on how insurance is priced and how it works. It is interesting to see, which the Deputy will know from the report, that the average businessperson pays approximately €2,000 a year in EL and PL, and 90% or more of these individuals pay less than €5,000 per year. The profit margin for the companies is approximately 5%, and during some periods these companies are actually making losses. It is important to acknowledge that.

The insurance industry has to reduce its premiums and that is the message that it is hearing from me and from the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. It is important, however, to acknowledge what was in the report. If one pays €100 in insurance, the profit margin for the company is approximately €5. That, perhaps, was not fully reflected in the Deputies earlier comments. It is interesting to know that profit margin figure for companies. The vast amount of what is paid in insurance used to pay people who have made claims, legal costs, reinsurance and administration costs. Approximately 5% is the margin taken by the company.

There has also been a reduction of approximately 50% in awards by the PIAB for minor injuries as opposed to those for catastrophic or severe injuries, which are different. That is, however, just in the context of two months of data taken from this year compared with an entire 12-month period prior to that. We have no data yet as to what is happening when these cases go to court. Are the judges upholding the amounts awarded by the PIAB or are they increasing these amounts? A little bit more time will be needed before we see that.

Do I expect to see premiums fall? Yes, I do. As the Deputy pointed out in the past, insurance companies work by making provisions for claims that they believe they will have to pay out. It is now reasonable to assume that they have made more provision than was necessary and that, therefore, they should be in a position to reduce premiums and to do so quickly, if not immediately.

As I have said previously, we are completely open to the Deputy’s Bill.

We are giving it consideration. As is the case with any legislation relating to the insurance industry, we are required to consult the Central Bank on it and we will do that.

I welcome the Tánaiste's comments on my legislation. He has said before that it was a sensible idea. We have translated that into legislation and it has passed Second Stage. Unfortunately, however, the process of putting a nine-month stay on it just does not make any sense and nor does it make any sense that we cannot look at the Bill or even, as a committee, ask the Central Bank its views on it for nine months. This can serve only the insurance industry's interests. The Tánaiste talked about two months' data and no data from the courts and the profit margins of insurance companies and that was before awards were slashed dramatically. I heard him ask how much insurance premiums should come down because of the reduction. He was not able to answer and I could not answer that question either because we do not know. That is why that legislation is really important. It makes the insurance company satisfy the Central Bank that these rewards were completely passed on to the consumers and done in an audited way. I therefore ask the Tánaiste not to take a delaying approach, which is what has happened in this regard. We now have the same approach to motor insurance and public liability. The cost and the number of claims are going down but premiums have gone up. Let us lift the stay on this Bill, allow it to go to pre-legislative scrutiny, hold the industry to account and bring transparency to this area.

A nine-month timed amendment does not mean that nothing can be done for nine months. That is certainly not my interpretation of what a timed amendment means. It is prudent to ask the Central Bank for a view on the legislation. We have accepted legislation Deputy Doherty has proposed on consumer contracts and we are open to accepting the legislation he is proposing now. However, as is the case with any legislation that affects financial services or industries such as insurance, we are required to get the view of the Central Bank, and I will consult my colleagues to see if we can get that view over the summer. I do not see why we would be required to wait nine months to do that. I might be wrong but I undertake to check up on that and come back to the Deputy.