We are at an inflection point for this Government. Given that the Tánaiste is about to rotate away from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I ask him for his reflections on the programme for Government commitments to deliver on insurance reform. What changes have been made? What does the Tánaiste feel has and has not worked? What should the next Minister perhaps try? Despite all the noble words, premiums continue to float upwards and insurance continues to strangle the social, cultural and commercial life of our country.

Some commercial premiums are reported to be rising 50% this year for firms with no history of claims. For others, the business liability insurance premium is up by 30%, and good luck trying to get a quote for adventure tourism. No new competition has entered the market to shake things up. We have another 15 years of the 2% levy brought about by the Quinn Insurance collapse. This costs €20 to €30 per household per year. We have something to look forward to, I suppose. We have no present public record or Circuit Court awards so we cannot see where payments are reasonable or unreasonable. The extent to which our independent Judiciary has reflected on agreed claims guidelines is a cause for concern. Too many cases still end up in the courts. The legal fees and costs are too high. The court outcomes are too unpredictable for many insurance underwriters to try their luck.

The programme for Government sets out the problem clearly. Insurance costs are too high for business, motorists, households and sporting, community and voluntary groups. The programme for Government priority was to improve competition, moderate excessive payouts and compensation claims and, most important, deliver legal reform. It all sounds a bit Mary Harney-esque circa 2003, to be honest.

The Dáil is waiting for the Government to move the occupiers' liability reform Bill forward. We are also waiting to see the new insurance competition office actually working and doing the job it is required to do. We have to wait to see if the Personal Injuries Resolution Board, PIRB, is more successful than the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB. On that point, I was the only Deputy to table an amendment seeking a subsequent review to the PIRB legislation, which I think should still happen. We already know that some reforms already look like they are not up to the task. Perhaps we need to bite the bullet and consider a citizens’ assembly and referendum to make insurance work for our economy and society, rather than having our society working for insurance. What changes have been made that the Tánaiste feels have worked or not worked? How should the next Minister try to achieve lasting insurance reform?

I thank the Deputy for raising this question. As he knows, I chaired the ministerial committee on insurance reform. I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, who has responsibility for the sector.

For far too long, the cost and availability of insurance has been a big problem for businesses, consumers and community and voluntary groups. We have made good progress on implementing the action plan. I have always said, however, that the success of the plan will not be measured by the number of completed actions but, rather, by whether the reforms implemented over the lifetime of the Government result in reduced premiums and increased availability of insurance. While we have seen some signs of improvement when it comes to availability, we have only seen premiums for motorists decrease to date. There is also likely to be a lag time between implementing these reforms and people seeing the benefits.

The Cabinet committee subgroup has worked very well in overseeing the action plan and 90% of the actions are now complete. I want the subgroup to continue its work next year. It will continue to be chaired at a high level by either the Taoiseach or Tánaiste. It will actively review developments in the sector, monitor price changes and engage with stakeholders.

Progress we have made to date includes the new personal injury guidelines, which are being used, and the establishment of new offices to promote competition and crack down on fraud. We strengthened the law on perjury legislation to reform the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, which has been passed and now awaits signature by the President. I understand we accepted the Deputy's amendment on the review as part of that and it was a welcome contribution. We also put proposals in place to amend the law on occupiers' liability, that is, the duty of care provision, to rebalance responsibility between those who run and own premises and those who may come into it. We anticipate having that done if not in the first quarter of next year, certainly in the first half of next year. Where savings have arisen from these reforms, we expect them to be passed on to policyholders. That is the message being conveyed to the industry by Ministers and I reiterate it today.

In terms of prices to date, despite the current trend in headline inflation at approximately 9%, the Central Statistics Office, CSO, indicates that motor insurance is 10% lower than a year ago and 43% lower than when it peaked in 2016. PIAB data also show a significant 44% reduction in award values for general damages and we now expect those reductions to be passed on to policyholders. We have, therefore, seen a significant reduction in motor insurance from its peak in 2016. We now want to see that when it comes to employer and public liability insurance over the course of the next year.

We need the occupiers' liability legislation enacted as soon as possible. As the Tánaiste well knows, the costs are not coming down in the commercial insurance sector as well as had been hoped. That remains a significant problem. We are not seeing the arrival of new competition in the sector. In that respect, there is talk of buying groups being formed, whereby industry sectors come together and seek to get a discount and start underwriting. Unless they have combined insurance premiums of more than €1 million, however, there is nowhere for them to run. That is a big problem for people involved in the bouncy castle business, sports and adventure centres and the performing arts.

What is the Government doing to support the smaller business? We need greater transparency regarding the fee income and insurance company profits being recorded at present. As I have advocated previously, we need strict review procedures to ensure the PIRB and, subsequently, occupiers' liability are working as desired. Most of all, we need to stop the feeding frenzy in personal injury compensation in this country. The new insurance office must sit on that in the coming year.

I am informed that the duty of care legislation, that is, the occupiers' liability legislation, was passed by the Dáil last week as part of an amendment to another justice Bill. That has yet to go through the Seanad and I expect it will then be enacted in the first quarter of next year. We expect the President to sign the legislation to reform the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and turn it into the Personal Injuries Resolution Board within the next couple of days. Once that is up and running, it will change the incentives. At the moment, if people do not accept the PIAB award, there is really no risk. They can go to court and will either get the same award or more. The only risk is having to wait. The legislation will change that so there is a risk in going to court. People may end up with less and with legal fees to pay. That will be a positive change.

As I said, the Government is very committed to this. The changes we made around motor insurance took a year or two to result in lower premiums. We believe the changes we made in the last year or two will result in decreased premiums in the next year or two. That is what we need to see as the benchmark for success.