Richard O'Donoghue on Insurance Fraud, Price Gaps and Telematics
Richard O'Donoghue criticised insurance fraud and county-by-county disparities in car insurance premiums, and called for targeted action against serial claimants. He advocated reviving an in-vehicle telematics "box" to reward safe driving and lower costs for young and novice drivers.
County price disparities
He highlighted variations in premiums for the same Toyota Corolla 1.4 petrol across counties, saying the same car and driver produced differences of €900 in Tipperary, €400 in Cork and €700 in Clare. He said rates appear higher where the cities are and that consumers face unequal costs depending on county classifications.
Allegations of organised fraud and computer profiling
He argued that a "genetically modified computer system" used by insurers aggregates claims by county, and that multiple claims by the same families and relations in one area push up premiums for others. He called for authorities and government to target people making repeated claims and to use systems to identify connections between claimants.
Telematics box for young and novice drivers
He described a previously used box that recorded acceleration, hard braking and speeding and provided insurers with driving data. He said such a telematics system rewarded safe driving, could give cheaper quotes to learner and novice drivers, and served as a virtual tutor while drivers built experience to full licence.
Policy consequences and next steps
He pressed for action to curb fraudulent claims to protect honest drivers and for the reintroduction or wider use of in-vehicle telematics to lower premiums and help young drivers onto the road. He framed these steps as necessary to make insurance more affordable and to hold serial claimants accountable.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Thank you, Chair. Minister, I'll start off on the first one, insurance and insurance fraud. And who's paying for the insurance fraud in this country is all the rest of the people that are trying to get insured themselves. So what we're seeing there is from a person trying to insure their vehicle, we say Limerick, Tipperary, Carr, Clare. If you look at the same vehicle over the different counties, it seems to be where the cities are, the insurance rates are higher. So we've done a small synopsis, actually on a Toyota Corolla. We've done the same vehicle, 1.4 petrol, and we look for an insurance, same person, same insurance, same car, so we went across all the sectors. There was a difference of 900 euros in Tipperary. There was a difference of 400 euros in Cork. There was a difference of 700 euros in Clare. Same vehicle, but different counties. So what we're actually have to check it into now is, they use the genetically modified computer system to say how many claims are done in each individual county, but they're creating the whole county. So what we've now looked into is the amount of claims that have been made by the same people, families, relations in one area, have not been curtailed by the insurance companies. So you could have a family and if you looked at it through an insurance fraud sector, there could be family and relations and everything belong to them, could have done multiple insurance claims, which the people of their county are now paying for because a computer system says that you have extra claims in your area. That's fraud. And we need to target those people to have the fraudulent claims. Now if somebody has an accident, that's fine. But somebody claiming for an accident and have 10 and 12 accidents, that's a problem. If they have one, fine. If they have two, maybe. If they have three, you're asking a question. But if there are multiple claims, we need to make sure that the government and the authorities target those people and put them on a system, computer modified as well, to find out how many, how are they related, are they connected, to save the people in the different counties money that are trying to get on the insurance ladder. Also for people, for young drivers, where there's no public transport, and learner drivers and novice drivers, trying to get them on the road system. There was a system there before and it was a box. The box was put into the vehicle. If you took off fast, it registered it. If you brake too hard, it registered it. If you went over the speed limit, it registered it. It was like having your parents sitting alongside you saying slow down, drive on, be careful. This was recording it and the insurance company had the full data on your driving system, in your speed limit, everything. And it rewarded you if you drove properly. Can you imagine that system for the young drivers at the moment? The people that are trying to get on the road, give them the cheaper insurance quote, get them on the road. They have been tracked as they go until they have their full licences and that way then they've got the basic training of keeping within the rules of the road and they get rewarded if they drive properly. That's an incentive for people that are trying to get on the road. And again, we need to tackle the insurance fraud to make sure those people are held accountable.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
