Vol. 553 No. 3
43 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she is satisfied that industry here can compete internationally in view of the extraordinarily high insurance costs here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14080/02]
Research has shown that insurance premiums are high in Ireland mainly due to the number and level of compensation awards to policyholders. The costs of delivery of compensation run at approximately 40% of the cost of claims.
While reports indicate that employer's liability insurance costs are higher in Ireland than in other member states, this may be attributable to the differences in social provision between Ireland and other EU member states. In many EU countries medical expenses and loss of earnings are largely, if not totally, provided for by the State. Where such arrangements are in place, they may operate through partial recoverability against employers but, of course, they do have implications in relation to the level of taxes on employment in those countries.
An Agreed Programme for Government contains a commitment to establish the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB. Towards that end, I expect shortly to present to Government, in accordance with the usual procedures, the report of the interdepartmental implementation group, which I can confirm I received recently. I intend to make the report public after it has been considered by the Government. It is expected that PIAB will, in the course of time, substantially reduce the number of personal injury claims being brought to court, thus reducing the legal and other costs involved in the delivery of personal injury compensation.
Questions Nos. 44 and 45 answered with Question No. 3.
