Central Bank confirms insurers profiting while premiums rise: Greens calls for tougher insurance reform

The Green Party has said today’s Central Bank National Claims Information Database (NCID) Liability Insurance Report for 2024 exposes a broken insurance system where premiums continue to rise despite falling claims and strong insurer profits.

The report shows that liability insurers recorded after-tax profits of 10% (€137 million) in 2024, while average liability premiums increased by a further 4%, contributing to a 23% rise since 2020.

Crucially, the Central Bank found that legal fees now match or exceed compensation awards in the majority of liability claims, with almost 70% of claims still being resolved through costly litigation, rather than through the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB).

Commenting on the report, a Green Party Finance spokesperson Michael Pidgeon said:

“The Central Bank’s figures make one thing clear: claims are down, awards are down, insurer profits are strong, yet premiums keep rising. That tells us the savings are not reaching businesses, community groups, individuals or volunteers.”

The Green Party said the findings underline the need to go beyond the Government’s existing reforms and tackle the structural drivers of cost, particularly excessive legal fees and over-reliance on litigation.

“When legal costs regularly equal the injury award itself, the system is clearly failing. Insurance reform must now focus on resolving far more claims quickly and cheaply, outside the courts, and ensuring insurers pass on savings.”

Mark Lynch, author of the Green Party’s Insurance Reform Policy, said the report strongly supports the party’s call for structural reform:

“This report confirms that tweaking award guidelines alone is not enough. When legal fees regularly equal the injury award itself, the system is clearly failing.

“Our policy tackles this head-on by strengthening the Injuries Resolution Board, expanding no-fault compensation where appropriate, capping excessive legal fees, forcing far more claims to be resolved outside the courts, and clamping down on opaque reinsurance and accounting practices that allow insurers to retain savings instead of passing them on to policyholders.”