“Only reductions in premiums” prove that actions working – AIR
“All the reform that has happened or is promised to happen is of no value to SMEs or voluntary & community groups if they cannot get insurance cover or there is only one underwriter prepared to offer cover. We’ve identified 35 sectors in this predicament.” – AIR’s Peter Boland.
“We welcome this report and the actions it summarises,” said Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance, “The cost of insurance is based on future risk and future risk has halved as a result of the new judicial Guidelines in place since April 24th.
“But there’s no evidence that insurers are passing on the benefits of these reductions,” he continued, “Additionally, all the reform that has happened or is promised to happen is of no value to SMEs or voluntary & community groups if they cannot get insurance cover or there is only one underwriter prepared to offer cover. We’ve identified 35 sectors in this predicament.
“It is up to the Government to apply relentless pressure on insurers to react to significant reforms with significant price reductions and it is up to Government to ensure more competition is brought into the Irish insurance market now. We urge the Government to avoid leaving any sector behind as insurance reforms are implemented.”
The AIR statement followed the release of preliminary data from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board – contained in the first implementation report from the Action Plan for Insurance Reform presented to Cabinet at Dublin Castle recently by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar – suggesting that the average compensation award for personal injury had decreased by about 50%.
However Tánaiste Leo Varakdar added that this reduction had not been matched by a proportional decrease in premia.
However he expects “a recognisable reduction” in insurance premia to take place “quite soon”.
