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FIANNA FÁIL HAS criticised the government for not giving a specific date for the set up of a database that would map trends of motor insurance claims.
The Cost of Motor Insurance Report recommended establishing a National Claims Information Database (NCID) to allow for an in-depth analysis of annual trends in car insurance claims.
In response to a query from Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, the Department of Finance said that the database would include details such as where claims are settled and the various costs associated with the claims process, but said that it wouldn’t aggregate the data on a claim-by-claim basis as there would be “major data protection implications” including GDPR issues, among other problems.
The Department of Finance said that it was seen as “key to developing an understanding of how claims costs are impacting premiums”, adding that the Central Bank is to begin collecting the required data from insurers and to publish its report later this year.
McGrath criticised the delay in publishing the database, which was meant to be “up and running” in the second quarter of last year.
Unfortunately, the government only got around to legislating for it in July last year and the legislation was finally enacted last December. Based on the response I have received; the government has completely washed its hands of the issue. The Minister only expects a report later this year, but no definitive date is provided.
At the weekend, a tweet went viral of Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty questioning representatives from the insurance industry who appeared in front of the Oireachtas Finance Committee about their claim that 20% of insurance claims were suspected of fraud.
Doherty questioned what proportion of these claims were reported to Gardaí, to which representatives replied only a fraction. Doherty surmised that the number of fraudulent claims was closer to 1% rather than 20%.
Sinn Féin / TwitterSinn Féin Finance spokesperson @PearseDoherty has called out the insurance industry for magnifying the scale of the issue of fraudulent claims in order to justify their high premiums and increases. pic.twitter.com/jaR5kH2dFr
— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) July 5, 2019
Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, and the Law Society of Ireland were among those who praised Doherty for his questioning of the insurance industry.
“I don’t often agree with Sinn Féin, but I am 100% with Pearse Doherty on fraudulent insurance claims. Insurance industry must do more to reduce costs,” Flanagan tweeted.
Law Society of Ireland Director General Ken Murphy said: “Doherty is to be commended for devastatingly exposing the soaring super-profits insurance companies are enjoying.”
It is also clear that a primary source of false and misleading claims in this public debate is the insurance industry itself.
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That can’t be right? Only 620 Irish millionaires? That tells me that the vast majority of millionaires are under the radar and therefore paying less than 30% income tax if any!
Yep, just 620 apparently. It was over 1,000 in around 2007/2008 but has dropped dramatically cos of the recession. My possibly dodgy attempt at early-morning maths tells me that that means 0.1% of the Irish population is a millionaire.
Christine,according to this there was 20,400 Irish millionaires in 2007?
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/number-of-irish-millionaires-soars-2230552.html
Yeah, I’d be a tad wary of that figure because it comes from a private company. The 620 figure came from Michael Noonan so it’s Department of Finance figures for the number of millionaires in Ireland which is more reliable.
Lol department of finance having reliable figures, good one
Christine you’ll have to give your self comment of the week for the Noonan & Dept of finance gag!! Classic
lol Stephen Doyle; they’ve probably lost 3.6 of them ;-)
Noonan reliable and figures are not three words that go together in any sentance.
The man tells jokes and like most jokes he makes them up to suit himself.
Des bishop had more chance of getting finance figures right than that clown noonan. Any figures noonan give are all from the Cardiff school of accounting and should be treated as the nonsense they are
I am a billionaire and don’t pay any taxes at all ,pathetic little millionaires , bloody peasants were stealing from my bins again last night ,i let the hounds loose it was great sport to see them running after the peasants up my mile long drive, great exercise for them.
#EXPLOSIVES see the gardai are investing in new explosives, makes a change from investigating i suppose
Very glad that over two hundred Divers have/are travelling to Cork to help recovery of the two remaining fishermen. I hope it works, to give those families some closure on this dreadful tragedy.
#MILLIONAIRES A small thing but… if 42 percent of millionaires pay more than 30 percent tax, then 58 percent pay less than 30 percent tax. So it’s not “Almost half of Ireland’s millionaires pay less than 30 per cent income tax” it’s more than half of Ireland’s millionaires…
There’s a big difference between millionaires in terms of income earned, and millionaires in terms of property owned/inherited. Could this explain the difference?
Ah I think you have a point there Martin. I imagine that the national lottery alone, create at a guess, 50ish millionaires a year and that’s tax free..
I just read that and thought it should be the cover of The Journal…so brillian!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=219635911459662&set=a.142394652517122.31257.142390589184195&type=1&theater
How many of those 600 plus millionaires actually reside full time in Ireland?
have your say