The European Commissioner with responsibility for competition has been asked to investigate the high cost of insurance in Ireland.
The former taoiseach, Fine Gael’s Mr John Bruton has written to Mr Mario Monti saying he is concerned that high insurance premiums are causing small Irish firms to close.
"Because there is such a low level of competition between insurance companies in Ireland, particularly for certain types of risk, it is possible for such exorbitant insurance premia to be imposed," Mr Bruton said.
"One also has to ask if some companies from the European Union are increasing premia disproportionately to remunerate investments they have made in buying insurance companies?" Mr Bruton added.
The business representative group IBEC say insurance costs for many industries are now the second largest running cost.