The Irish Insurance Federation has expressed serious reservations regarding an EU draft directive on gender equality. This new directive would require insurers to ignore gender as a factor in setting insurance rates.
'Put simply, in the case of car insurance, women will be penalised,' warned the IIF's Paul O'Donnell. 'Female drivers could face an increase in their premium by as much as €750 if insurers are forced to ignore the fact that women are statistically safer drivers than men,' he said.
'The decision to ignore objective risk factors in the motor insurance market is a retrograde step which will interfere with the operation of normal market forces and in the process undermine the current competitive nature of the market in Ireland,' he added.
The European Parliament yesterday voted to back the proposed directive.
