A by-election candidate has claimed that the “malpractice of dual pricing and loyalty penalties” of insurance companies is costing local consumers and businesses dearly – in some cases leading to employers shuttering their doors.

Sinn Féin’s Dáil election candidate for Wexford, Johnny Mythen, says “the insurance industry tells us our premiums are going up because of the number and value of claims is rising. But their numbers don’t stack up.

“Insurance companies repeatedly claim that 20% of all claims are fraudulent. But in July and October this year, after questioning from Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty, it was revealed that as little as 0.1% and at most 4% of claims are reported by insurance companies to the Garda as fraudulent, not 20%. Either the industry is telling lies or it is breaking the law by failing to comply with Section 19 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Mr Mythen continued; “This malpractice is harming our local economy. Despite all the sound-bites, that facts are these: Co. Wexford has 2% above the National unemployment average; this is a County that depends on small-to-medium enterprises for the vast majority of employment; and these SMEs are under pressure from enormous, and demonstrably-unjustified insurance hikes.”

“I just spoke with a local business man who had to give up his business. He said he had three vans on the road, and had to let one driver and one van go at first. Then his insurance almost trebled again – and he had no choice but to close his business. He had four people in full employment including himself.”

As a member of the Sinn Féin Dáil team, Mr Mythen, informed WexfordToday.com that he will bring change with an action-ready, pragmatic five-point plan:

1. Set up a Garda Insurance Fraud Unit – which the current government has refused to do. This will give transparency and security to industry and consumers alike;

2. Ban Dual Pricing by the Insurance Industry – already banned in 17 US states, and which uses “big data” to deliberately target those with less capacity to shop around;

3. Make Pearse Doherty’s Consumer Insurance Contracts Bill law – which will strengthen consumer protection and increase transparency from companies, tilting the balance in favour of the consumer;

4. Abolish Premium Levies and put €230 million back in consumers’ pockets – reducing premiums by 5%;

5. State Intervention to address the Market Failure – beginning with a scoping exercise, and exploring the establishment of a State-led public redress scheme for personal injuries and a public insurance provider for third-party cover.

“Whether for local community centres facing closure due to extortionate costs (if they can even get any cover at all); or businesses whose insurance costs double – despite making no claims – the insurance market is broken, said Mr Mythen, who concluded;  “It is breaking local communities, jobs and local economies. It needs to be fixed – we know how it can be fixed; it just needs TDs in a Dáil that will get down to work on fixing it.”