Uh oh... not Simplicity! Just curious, where did you read that about Simplicity?
It's not listed in the January 2017 set of LAYA plans with increases, but I can see Flex 250 in there.
Laya Healthcare will apply a price change across 56 plans from 1 January 2017. 7 plans reduced in price by an average of 7% on gross premiums.
http://www.hia.ie/news/laya-healthcare-price-change-56-plans-01012017
Usually the price increases are noted on the HIA site well in advance of coming into force.
The comparison feature on the HIA site is usually my first port of call for finding comparable policies:
http://www.hia.ie/ci/health-insurance-comparison