Law Society Director General Ken Murphy has commended TD Pearse Doherty’s (pictured) of the insurance sector on Friday 5 July.

“Deputy Doherty is to be commended for devastatingly exposing the soaring super-profits insurance companies are enjoying,” the Murphy said.

The Law Society has echoed the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan’s praise for Deputy Doherty’s cross-examination of insurers, and his call for the industry to do more to reduce costs.

Sinn Féin Finance spokesperson @PearseDoherty has called out the insurance industry for magnifying the scale of the issue of fraudulent claims in order to justify their high premiums and increases. pic.twitter.com/jaR5kH2dFr

— Sinn Féin (@sinnfeinireland) July 5, 2019

Distraction technique

Ken Murphy said: “Pearse Doherty’s questions laid bare the insurers' distraction technique of blaming false and exaggerated claims, rather than their own profiteering, for the excessive premiums that threaten the survival of so many Irish businesses.” 

“It is now clear that insurers are making enormous profits while Irish businesses struggle to pay exorbitant premiums,” the director general said.

“We are glad to see political recognition that it is insurance companies, themselves, not the victims of accidents, the judiciary or the legal profession, who must answer for the incredibly burdensome premiums they are choosing to charge their customers.”

False and misleading claims

“It is also clear that a primary source of false and misleading claims in this public debate is the insurance industry itself,” Ken Murphy added.

“In the light of what Deputy Doherty's fearless and forensic questioning has exposed about false and exaggerated claims, should the insurers not report themselves to the Gardaí?”