Insurance firms to face questions about high premiums

Representatives of the insurance industry are due to face questions about continuing high premiums when they appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business later today.

Yesterday, committee chairman Donie Cassidy said he would be asking why insurance premiums remained exorbitantly high and why insurance firms were not passing on their falling costs to consumers.

He said motor premiums in particular should have fallen significantly this year due to a reduction in road deaths following the introduction of the penalty points system.

Mr Cassidy said the insurance industry was reporting reductions in premiums, but he had seen "very little" evidence of such reductions.

Earlier this year, the insurance industry reported profits of €183m.