A new report has found the ‘closed mentality’ of the Insurance sector is a factor in recent premium hikes.

The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance’s report on the rising cost of motor insurance – to be published next week – claims consumers have been ‘thrown to the wolves’ by the State.

New laws to force companies to reveal details of their claims and tougher penalties for drivers caught speeding are among the 76 recommendations made.

Ceava O’Callaghan from O’Callaghan Insurances in Dundalk, says she has sympathy for some of the big insurance companies: “The fact is the claims frequency is up by a third, since 2007.

“So you know the insurance companies have to deal with those claims and the cost of claims is much much higher than it has been previously, because we have got a more litigious society, we have got inexperienced judges and there are higher court jurisdictions.

“So you know those are things that are beyond the insurance companies control.”