Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 February 2019
40. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Finance his plans to reduce the perceived excessive sums awarded for whiplash compensation claims in view of the latest Personal Injuries Assessment Board data. [4566/19]
View answerOne of the key areas raised by various stakeholders to the Cost of Insurance Working Group is the level of awards in this country for soft tissue injuries compared with the UK in particular. In addition to the award levels as the Deputy will be aware there can also be significant costs over and above such awards including legal, medical and other costs. Data from the Department of Finance’s Motor Key Information Reports suggested such costs can be up to 40% of the award level provided in cases involving litigation.
As a result the Working Group established the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) and commissioned it to carry out a benchmarking exercise of award levels in other countries amongst other things. It reported in September 2018 and concluded that soft tissue injuries are significantly higher than in the UK and recommended that action be taken to address this disparity through the establishment of the Judicial Council. It recommended that this body would become responsible for preparing the guidelines on personal injury award levels, and would replace the Book of Quantum. In doing this the PIC believes that the Judicial Council will, in compiling the guidelines, take account of the jurisprudence of the Court of Appeal and the results of its benchmarking exercise etc. However as legislation is required to establish this body, the PIC recommended that an interim judicial council be put in place initially to commence this process.
As responsibility for the Judicial Council legislation, and any interim solution rests with the Minister for Justice and Equality, Charlie Flanagan TD, Minister of State D’Arcy recently wrote to him to express his views on the matter. In this correspondence, he has requested that Minister Flanagan engage with the judiciary to seek their agreement to convene an interim Judicial Council with the purposes of preparing guidelines for appropriate general damages for various types of personal injury, as recommended by the PIC. It is hoped that if there was a significant move in this area, it could have an impact on insurance pricing and could also help attract new entrants into the market.
Finally, I would emphasise the importance the Government places on continuing to tackle the problem of the high cost of insurance and that it remains a priority for it. I will continue to engage with my colleagues in particular the Minister for Justice and Equality on the broader law reform aspects of this very important project.
