Irish Life managing director angers Oireachtas committee

The decision by the Irish Life managing director, Mr David Went, not to appear before an Oireachtas Joint Committee to discuss…

The decision by the Irish Life managing director, Mr David Went, not to appear before an Oireachtas Joint Committee to discuss alleged mis-selling of insurance policies has been described by members of the committee as "outrageous". Mr Went said he decided not to appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business to discuss allegations of "churning" in the life assurance sector because it would not be "appropriate", until a review by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment of Irish Life's sales policies concluded.

Mr Went said "in due course" the company would send a "representative" to appear before the committee to discuss the issues.

However, the chairman of the committee, Mr Ivor Callely, said Mr Went's decision was "extremely regrettable".

"If Mr Went or the company have nothing to hide then why are they not prepared to come in here and answer some questions," he said.

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He added that the committee would be re-issuing an invitation to Mr Went to appear before them in the next few weeks.

"We are determined that Mr Went will appear before us and we are not prepared to wait until the investigation by the Department has concluded," he said.

He added that Mr Went's reference to a company "representative" was not acceptable.

"We want Mr Went to appear at the committee, not another representative - all the other companies which have appeared before us have been led by their most senior manager," he said.

A spokesman for the company said Irish Life would be happy to work with the committee once the investigation by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has been completed. He said the use of the word "representative" did not necessarily mean Mr Went would not be appearing before the committee. Mr Went is currently in the US meeting fund managers.

Officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment have made several visits to the head offices of Irish Life to examine files relating to alleged mis-selling. The investigation is expected to conclude sometime in late September.

Mr Tommy Broughan, from the Labour Party, said the Compellability of Witnesses Bill, which is expected to be passed by the il Dail soon, should be used against Mr Went if necessary. This Bill will make it illegal for people not to appear before Oireachtas committees.

Mr Callely said Irish Life's own internal documentation indicated senior managers knew of incidents of "churning" in 1992, but did nothing to stamp out the practice. He said it was clear that in the examples of "churning" in that documentation, customers lost significant sums of money.