Deputy Charlie McConalogue says the Government needs to work harder to implement all of the recommendations of the Cost of Insurance Working Group Report.
Today marks the first anniversary of the report’s publication, and while some of the recommendations have been applied, many are still outstanding.
Deputy McConalogue said his party has been to the fore of exposing rip-off insurance culture and it was on foot of their Private Members Motion on the spiralling cost of motor insurance that the Working Group was set up.
He said “I welcomed the publication of its report last year, but warned that the recommendations had to be implemented in full in order to deliver for motorists.
“I am concerned that a year after the publication, there are a number of key recommendations that are still outstanding – issues like award levels, insurance fraud and transparency around industry data.
“Despite CSO data revealing that aggregate premiums have fallen in recent months, I am still being contacted by people – mainly younger drivers or motorists with older cars – who are continuing to see their premiums increase.
“This is a serious problem in a rural county like Donegal, which covers a huge geographic area and has a very limited public transport service. People here rely on their cars to get around and are being penalised by high premiums because of a lack of will from this Government to effectively tackle the problem.”
The Inishowen TD said the high cost of motor insurance is no doubt linked to the substantial number of claims that are settled out of court and outside of the Injuries Board process, and by the failure of the Government to deal with the collapse of Setanta Insurance.
“This is an issue that affects thousands of people in Donegal, and across the country and we will be continuing to press it with the Government to ensure that it does not fall off the political agenda”.
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