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The Personal Insolvency bill passed all stages of the Oireachtas last night, clearing the way for reform of the country’s bankruptcy laws.

The new regulations, to be enacted before the end of the year, are meant to assist distressed debtors and those in mortgage arrears. The legislation reduces the period of insolvency from 12 to three years and allows debts of up to €3 million be written off.
But will the banks play ball? Comments from the banking industry in recent days have raised concerns that debt forgiveness is not being contemplated by the banks.

Joining Pat was Independent TD Stephen Donnelly who is on his way into a Oireachtas Finance Committee meeting. The public interest directors at Bank of Ireland and AIB are appearing before the committee this morning.

It’s that time of year when Charity collectors vie with Christmas shoppers ....for standing space on our city side walks. Whatever about the amounts our shoppers are spending...our overseas aid budget continues to stay close to Celtic Tiger levels. We sent €636m overseas last year in development assistance, but can we afford this generosity in this time of austerity. The findings that Irish funds was miss- appropriated by officials of the Ugandan Government has also posed the question.....should we be funding Governments where good governance is not guaranteed?

Well to have a discussion on aid, Pat was joined in studio by Joe Costello, Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Justin Kilcullen, Executive Director of Trocaire, Journalist Eamon Delaney and Derek Fee former EU Ambassador to Zambia and author of How to Manage an Aid Exit Strategy – The Future of Development Aid.

Currently when it comes to the cost of your motor insurance premium, gender plays a role. And if you’re a male between the age of 17 and 24 you’ll know how big that role is.

But from tomorrow that is all set to change. That’s because as a result of an EU ruling, from tomorrow on gender cannot be used as a rating factor.
This is likely to result in higher premiums for woman and lower ones for men. But those increases or decreases will vary depending on your age and also what insurance company you choose to buy from.
Tina Leonard was here to explain.

What is changing legally?

In March last year the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on a case brought by a Belgian consumer group. The case challenged an opt-out, which had allowed insurance companies to use gender as a rating factor when pricing risk.
The ECJ ruled that using gender as a rating factor in the calculation of insurance would no longer be allowed from 21st December this year.
As gender is an important risk factor in determining motor insurance premiums particularly, this will have an impact on premiums, most specifically in relation to young men and women who renew from tomorrow onwards.
How will the new rule impact my motor insurance premium?
Actuarial and statistical data consistently presents men as a higher risk for motor insurance, particularly younger men, which is why they currently pay more. In fact the cost of premiums for males within the ages of 17 to 24 could be double that of a female the same age due to increased risk factors such as increased accident frequency and increase severity of accidents when they do occur.

But from tomorrow premiums for new insurance contracts will have to be calculated on a unisex basis. And that should mean lower premiums for men and higher ones for women. This EU ruling will have the biggest impact here and in Britain and Spain as these are the countries where gender-based pricing is most commonly used.

However, just what the difference will be largely depends on your age bracket. This is because as statistically the biggest risk category is males aged 17 to 24 and so this is where the biggest price difference between the genders is.
These risks decrease in both genders as age increases so premiums begin to fall and the difference in premium costs between the sexes begins to even out after the age of 30. So the unisex motor insurance rates will have less impact on men and women aged over 30 as they are already treated as near identical risks at that age, as accident rates and claims tend to equalise.

Price examples

- AA Ireland conducted a review of motor insurance premiums that fall for renewal after 21st December among eight insurers (ARB, Allianz, Aviva, Axa, Chartis, KennCo, RSA and Zurich).
They found that as anticipated the worst affected premiums were those for young female drivers. In fact the average increase for a twenty-five year old woman was 24%. However, the increases ranged from 13% to 36% in that age category, so that shows the need to shop around.
However once you are over thirty the increases become less great. For example, in the AA’s survey the average increase for a 30 year old woman was 9%; 5% for a 40 year old; 4% for a fifty year old; 3% for a 60 year old and 2% for a seventy year old.
The same survey found a corresponding decrease for male drivers. However the average premium decrease for 25 year old males was just 6%, so not as great as the increase on the female side. However, that is an average and the greatest discount found for a 25 year old male was 21%.
For men of other ages the average decreases were: -5% for a 30 year old; -3% for a 40 year old’ -2% for a 50 year old; -4% for a 60 year old and -5% for a 70 year old.

- Independent insurance brokers chill.ie also carried out a survey to see what changes will be made to premiums from tomorrow.
Their analysis is based on the same policy criteria, where only the age and gender of the candidate varies, with the same Dublin based 1.2L car, a track record of insurance, two penalty points, and no convictions (14 insurers quoted).

They found that a current premium costing €4,317.84 for a 17 year old male would reduce to €1,833.51, a reduction above 50%. However a 17 year old female, with all other criteria identical would see her premium rise from €1,540.82 to €1,833.51.

As the ages rise however, the difference were less stark. For example, the same analysis for a 25 year old male and female showed the female paying approximately €150 more for insurance, with the male’s premium dropping €32. Analysis shows price increases between €13 and €25 for women over the age of 30, whereas the male’s policy premium is largely unaffected. For a 45 year old woman the increase was €12, with no decrease recorded for a male that age.

What you can do

It is clear from the surveys carried out above, that the extent of either reductions or increases varies quite a bit across the insurance providers at this stage. Padraig Lynch, CEO of chill.ie believes that once insurance companies see how their customers and the market in general responds to the price changes, there is likely to be further adjustment and that this could last for several months into the new year.

What this means is that it is crucial then when your motor insurance policy is up for renewal that you compare quotes. Whatever your age it seems that you should be able to find premiums that vary quite a bit due to the initial impact of the gender ruling.
Other tips:

- Join a parent's insurance as a named driver as early as possible, to establish a safety record, and avail of discounts on ‘own name’ insurance, based on a ‘named driver’ record, and driving experience.
- Get a full licence as soon as possible to reduce the cost of motor insurance considerably.
- Choose a car with a small engine; less powerful cars are cheaper to insure. Similarly, high value cars attract a higher premium.
- Drive carefully and build up a no claims bonus.
- Carefully consider the extent of cover you have and the excess you pay etc as changing these could lower your premium (and your cover too of course).

Life insurance

Men currently pay more for life assurance than women, as life expectancy for men is lower than life expectancy for women. But now, following the implementation of the gender ruling, premiums and benefits should not be different between two individuals for the same insurance policy, solely because one of the individuals is male and the other is female.
If you have joint life cover, for example a married couple, then the increase in female prices is likely to be mostly balanced out by the decrease in males.

However, if you are a woman on a single life policy it is likely that your life cover will increase. This is because currently you will pay less that a man of the same age, at any age category through your life, with the difference becoming greater for the over 40s.

For example a 45 year old woman who is a non-smoker would currently pay €37.54 for a twenty year term life assurance policy while the same aged man would pay €49.20 (source Caledonian Life). So this difference will have to even out.

Look closely in jewellery and perfume shops in the next few days and you should notice panicked men, scratching their heads and wondering what to get their significant others as Christmas presents this year. Some will play it safe and opt for a voucher or maybe a cash present, while others will have received clear instructions well in advance of Christmas morning. Brian O’Connell spent some time on the streets of Cork trying to find out what men are buying for their wives and partners this Christmas and he also went shopping with a personal shopper to get some expert advice.

It’s minus 17 in Moscow today – but that’s not cold enough for an Irishman living there who’s getting ready to follow Irish polar explorers like Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean on a trip to the South Pole in just under a fortnight. Niall Carton’s raising money for an Irish charity building hospices and orphanages in the former Soviet Union – following an eventful trip when he made it to the North Pole despite serious injury after falling on the ice. If he does it – he joins a very select band who’ve made it to both poles.

Irish Journalist in Moscow Diarmaid Fleming has been speaking to Niall Carton.

Valerie Cox reports from The Press Conference.

Dr. Ali Saleem, Islamic Cultural Centre in Ireland.