Peter Boland: More competition in the Irish liability insurance market is essential

"The low hanging fruit must be grasped but it will then have to be protected for a long time to come."

More competition in the Irish liability insurance market is essential. This must be a major priority for the new team at the Department of Finance, as Minister Michael McGrath will be overseeing reforms.

While insurance reform has been the subject of considerable focus from government for six years now, the reforms have not yet worked for liability insurance policyholders such as voluntary and community groups, charities, sports, and cultural organisations or SMEs. Indeed, premiums for these sectors continue to rise and many organisations now cannot get affordable cover at all.

And yet among all the crises facing government in 2023, and because of all the work that has been done so far by the previous and current governments, by the opposition, and by the judiciary, insurance is the crisis closest to being resolved. The low-hanging fruit.