Calls for urgent and radical reform to strengthen the Board’s role
The Alliance for Insurance Reform today met Minister of State Robert Troy, the Minister whose delegated responsibilities include the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB); and expressed its alarm at the publication of data by the Central Bank which shows the percentage of motor insurance personal injury claims settled by PIAB has fallen to only 14%.
Commenting prior to the meeting, Eoin McCambridge, managing director of McCambridge’s of Galway and director of the Alliance said “When PIAB was launched in 2004, it had a profound and immediate impact on insurance costs as was intended. But it has been undermined since then to the extent that far more cases now go to litigation, with no benefit for plaintiffs but enormous fees for solicitors and barristers.”
Peter Boland, director of the Alliance said “If urgent and radical reform of PIAB is not carried out, it will be irrelevant within a decade and we will be back to a situation where the compensation of people injured due to the negligence of others will be a process managed and controlled by the legal profession, for the benefit of the legal profession, with dire consequences for the cost and availability of insurance cover in Ireland. It is up to the Minister to address this issue now and we call on him to publish detailed reform proposals and most importantly, to follow through on those proposals, as a matter of extreme urgency.”
ENDS
NOTE: The 14% figure quoted in this release comes from Figure 13, on page 28 of the Private Motor Insurance Report 2 National Claims Information Database published on Tuesday 3rd November.
ATTACHMENT: PIAB_screenshot1.jpg image from today’s meeting. Those pictured include (L to R and top to bottom):
Peter Boland, Alliance for Insurance Reform
Robert Troy, Minister of State with responsibility for Trade Promotion at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Adrian Cummins, Restaurant Association of Ireland
Anne Barrett, Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
Duncan Graham, Retail Excellence
Brendan Kenny, Ireland’s Association for Adventure Tourism
Colin Croffy, Association of Irish Festival Events
Con Quill, Irish Caravan and Camping Council
Pat Dawson, Irish Travel Agents Association
Gerry Monks, Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association
Ivan Cooper, The Wheel
John McGrane, Family Business Network Ireland
Neil McDonnell, ISME
Padraig Cribben, Vintners Federation of Ireland
Tadhg Daly, Nursing Homes Ireland
Tara Buckley, RGDATA
Tracy Sheridan, Play Activity and Leisure Ireland
Una May, Sport Ireland
Vincent Jennings, Convenience Stores and Newsagents Association