Working group on fraud database consulted UK authorities

The establishment of a fraud database in order to help the insurance industry detect patterns of fraud was recommended in the Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance earlier this year.

A working group set up by the Department of Justice to consider the recommendation has met seven times so far.

It is made up of representatives from the crime, civil law and criminal law divisions of the Department, An Garda Síochána’s Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), Insurance Ireland and the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland (MIBI).

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said: “The group has engaged in discussions with the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and the respective UK bodies dealing with insurance fraud (i.e. Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department and the Insurance Fraud Bureau) as part of its work and these interactions have fed into a working group report, which outlines the working group’s consultations, analysis and recommendations.

“The working group intends to submit this report to the Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner for their views, following which the report will be submitted to the Cost of Insurance Working Group, which is chaired by my colleague, the Minister of State, Michael D’Arcy TD.

“If it is determined, following this initial scoping exercise, that an insurance fraud database (including the possibility of expanding the existing industry database) is a viable option, then a further exercise will be carried out to put the necessary legislative and other measures in place to facilitate it.”