Updated / Wednesday, 17 Feb 2021
14:01
Programme for Government includes a commitment to remove dual pricing from the insurance market
A bill to restrict the practice of differential pricing by insurance companies has been criticised by Government for failing to acknowledge the positive effects of the practice.
Sinn Féin s Insurance (Restriction on Differential Pricing and Profiling) Bill was before the Dáil this morning.
However, Minister of State at the Department of Finance Sean Fleming, accused Sinn Féin of picking one aspect of differential pricing, known as dual pricing, while failing to acknowledge that differential pricing can also help consumers save money.
The European Commission has been called on to expand the scope of its probe into insurance firms here.
The commission is already investigating motor insurers over whether Insurance Ireland is operating a cartel by restricting access to a key database on the motor market.
The Alliance for Insurance Reform wants its investigation to now include liability insurance.
The call comes after a study on the public liability insurance market by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) found a lack of data on the market was serving as a barrier to new entrants.
The CCPC said that the Insurance Link database, which is under the control of Insurance Ireland for data protection purposes, should be available to all insurers in the market and managed by an independent body.