Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)

I absolutely agree with the Deputy that we need to hold them to account and that we need to see downward pressure on prices. The Deputy cited CSO figures. I note that CSO figures, when compared with those from 2019, have gone down exactly 39.6% in motor insurance alone. We have the NCID data, which is the most robust form, that shows a consistent decrease in the price of insurance since 2019. However, we saw a small uptick of 0.5%, an average of €7 per premium, at that latter end of last year.

The Deputy made a clear comparison with England and Wales. Where has the return been in the cost of premiums in England and Wales? They are going up in those jurisdictions. We want to see the insurance companies held to account. They will all be before the committee with the representative body. I have met every one of them in my first 12 weeks of office. I will meet them again in the next six to eight weeks. We have already invited them. I hope to start that in the next fortnight and I will continue to press. We accept their reasons, such as inflation, costs and footfall, but crucially, we can acknowledge that in the round, insurance costs have gone down drastically compared to a number of years ago. The data shows that. We want them to go down further. The level of availability has spread out a lot. That is not using anecdotal evidence. It is clear in the market.

There is an awful lot more to do and-----

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