I thank the Deputy the question. He is right to highlight the Office to Promote Competition in the Insurance Market established as a consequence of the action plan on insurance reform overseen by the Cabinet sub-group on insurance reform. The latest implementation report demonstrates that significant progress has been made, with 90% of the actions contained in the action plan now being delivered or initiated. I will revert to the Deputy on the duty of care point. The Deputy will be aware that the Office to Promote …

I tend to agree, but we also need insurers from different countries that are interested in moving into a market such as Ireland's. That is not necessarily a given, as it remains a small market with a number of insurers. It is not simply the case that, because we have a positive message, people are necessarily going to want to change their business model in order to operate in this market. We must reflect that. In the course of conversations I have had, there are clear signs that the market is responding to the insu…

Correct.

I agree with the Deputy. He is aware that some of that is already happening. One of the questions I am asking is the extent to which more of that can be done and in what circumstances. I will update the House on the duty of care legislation. The Deputy is right about it being a matter for the Department of Justice, but it is my understanding that the legislation will be enacted before the summer. It is a significant part of the action plan on insurance reform because it sets out the culture of what can be expected …

I thank Deputy Dillon for the question. It is important to note there are various levies and contributions in existence on insurance premiums. These serve different and quite defined purposes. The 2% insurance compensation fund levy represents the only pure levy charged on insurance premiums. It covers the cost of claims in the State where an insurer goes into liquidation. The ICF was established under the Insurance Act 1964. To recoup the Exchequer funds advanced following the administration of Quinn Insurance, th…

I thank Deputy Dillon. I would like to clarify and come back to him in writing on some of the points he has raised. I hope that is okay. I will go back to some of the figures. Once the MIICF reaches €200 million the levy will be 0%. I would like to clarify this with the Department and come back to Deputy Dillon directly. It is important to set out to the House what is there at present. The Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland's annual reports of the MIICF state that recent contributions were €38 million in 2021, €38 m…

I thank Deputy Burke. As he knows from his own legal experience, the terms of a settlement may include a confidentiality element. I appreciate Deputy Burke's position as a member of the Committee of Public Accounts as I was a former member with him. I would like to reflect on this with the Department of Finance to see whether or how such information could be shared, having regard to the terms of the settlement.

I welcome the opportunity to bring this legislation to the House. I hope Deputies will not mind if I echo their many tributes to my predecessor, the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, who was the first dedicated Minister of State for credit unions and who put enormous work into this Bill in collaboration with the credit union sector and the Department. I take this opportunity to again pay tribute to him. I also pay tribute to Deputy Harkin, who put forward a Private Members' Bill to improve credit unions generally.…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).

I could update the Deputy on that.

I can update the Deputy. The opportunity was to provide funding of €900 million for the approved housing bodies, AHBs, and that has been there since 2018 or 2019. I believe less than €20 million of that has been utilised by the credit union movement. The opportunity has been there for some time but has not, unfortunately, been fully utilised. We would hope to see more of it being done.

Absolutely.

I wish to clarify for the Deputy that the corporate suggestion came from the credit union movement. It is an important clarification. The corporate model proposal came from the credit union advisory committee and its members would be other credit unions.

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Department has been working with insurance companies to identify niche points of difficulty where people have not been able to access insurance. Where there are community events whose organisers work with local authorities, there may be an appetite to increase the risk profile. The most important thing is the implementation of the action plan for insurance reform, which the Government has been doing, and ensuring the reductions in the awards issued by the Personal Injuries A…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time". I am pleased to present the Credit Union (Amendment) Bill 2022 to the Dáil today. I want to begin by thanking my predecessor as Minister of State at the Department of Finance with responsibility for credit unions, Deputy Fleming, for his work on the Bill. Under his stewardship, the Bill completed its passage through the Seanad in December 2022. Although I have been Minister of State with responsibility for credit unions for just a brief period, I have already engag…

I thank the Senator and understand the point she is making with these amendments. I have looked at them carefully. The Senator is trying to insert references to this "or other relevant legislation” and this set of obligations or other relevant obligations. Two difficulties arise with the amendments. One is they do not define relevant legislation or obligations, which we must do to provide certainty in legislation. The second is if one has those obligations under this Act and under another Act, one still has obligat…

I thank Senator Black for raising this because it speaks to what we are trying to do with this legislation, who we seek to include and the significant expansion of people who will now come under this legislation. I understand the Senator wants accountability and reporting and that is important. However, the system for designated controlled functions and pre-approval controlled functions has worked well over the past 12 years. I gave figures on Committee Stage of the number of people involved, the number of sanction…

This amendment encapsulates what we are trying to do with this legislation, which is to add to the regulatory structures we have put in place specifically in response to the financial crisis. On speaking to the Central Bank today, it was careful to reiterate its mandate, which is around the protection of the financial system in Ireland, specifically, for the well-being of the people of the State when accessing financial services. It is about having safe financial services when accessing their money at any given tim…

I thank the Senator for raising those points. There is quite a lot to get through, so I might speak in general terms and then go through some of the specifics, if that is okay. What he raised gets to the essence of what we are and are not trying to achieve with the Bill in respect of cultural change, enabling appropriate look-back and striking all the correct balances. He correctly highlighted the issues that arose in the Supreme Court case. Whatever about a law student looking at it, however, this has been the sub…

Yes, for precisely the reason the Senator raised. It may very well be the case that should have happened with Central Bank employees and that facility should be there, and it is about how we can do that appropriately. Of course, the six-year period was chosen based on the Statute of Limitations and so on, but it is really about preventing what has been a practice of strategic resignations, which are not okay. This is where the State is aware there is a difficulty, in particular because of an individual rather than …