Property and motor insurance achieved high profits last year, but there was still a loss of €56m in liability insurance.

Mike Kemp, chief executive of the Irish Insurance Federation, talks to Ian Guider

Mike, the industry made profit of €217m last year how was this result achieved?

Property and motor insurance achieved high profits last year, but there was still a loss of €56m in liability insurance. I think what happened is the frequency of claims came down last year on the motor side from road safety campaigns and there is anecdotal evidence that court awards also came down due the euro changeover.

Business groups are looking for liability insurance rates to be cut, if motor insurance has fallen why hasn't liability?

Liability made a loss of €56m last year and we would say what part of that loss would you like back.

If the industry overall is profitable, will this be passed on to employers in the form of reduced liability insurance?

The business is cyclical, but there is evidence that the growth in premium rates is levelling off. If we get measures like the PIAB there is no reason why premium rates won't fall.

You have launched an attempt to crackdown on fraudulent claims, how much has this saved the industry?

Fraud is something we are tackling with the fraud hotline. We've had 900 calls already and we are pleased with that. It's difficult to say how much exactly has been saved but we would hope that the savings will be passed on to consumers.

You've said there are recommendations in the MIAB report into motor insurance that could be implemented by the government to bring down costs but haven't, what are these?

The government could get the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to speed up claims. We also need a new national road safety strategy and a Garda traffic corps could reduce the number of accidents on the roads

Why would the Competition Authority investigate the industry if it is competitive?

At first glance there may appear not be a lot of competition in the market but those who are here fight hard for every bit of business. There are no barriers to entry in the Irish market and we have all the major brokers here.

Will the industry record higher profits this year?

It's difficult to say even at this stage of the year. On the motor side we have seen a good year and on the property side, well that depends on what the weather is like. On the liability side, again we will probably see losses continue.