Update – 11.55am: Conor Faughnan of the AA says insurance payouts in Ireland are far more generous than elsewhere.

He said: “I blame the insurance industry for banging this drum too much and for overegging it, because it’s been true for years and it is still true that a bodily injury in Ireland of a given severity gets a much more generous bit of compensation than you get in most other places in the world.

“So we settle very generously, we sue far too often, we’re divils for fraud.”

Earlier: Irish motorists are facing increases of around 40% in their car insurance premiums.

The average cover has increased to €970 and it is expected that drivers will have to pay an additional 15% by the end of 2016.

According to reports in the Irish Daily Mail, the increases are down to steep compensation payouts, fraud, uninsured drivers and collapsing insurance companies.

It has also emerged that a Government taskforce set up to address the high costs of policies has met just once.