Consumers want action, not promises

THE soaring cost of insurance is one of the worst features of Ireland’s unenviable image as the rip-off capital of Europe.

Joining the clamour of complaints from consumers and small business firms, the joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business has now fired another broadside at an industry where profits are nothing short of obscene.

The figures speak for themselves. A damning report has showed Ireland’s motor insurance sector is ten times more profitable than Britain’s. Huge profits of €183 million have been made on the backs of hard-pressed Irish drivers, effectively wiping out losses of the previous three years in one fell stroke.