The Alliance for Insurance Reform welcomes today’s report (on personal injury claims and awards for 2024) from the Injuries Resolution Board which highlights sustained reductions in claim volumes (1) in recent years and makes the ongoing increase in insurance premiums impossible to justify (2).
Although the report finds an increase in cases being resolved at the Injuries Board (going from 48% to 50%), we need to see this number continue to increase further, as there are still too many cases being settled via litigation. Litigation adds greatly, and often unnecessarily, to the cost of claims and ultimately the premiums people have to pay (3).
The government needs to safeguard and promote the Injuries Board as the fairest and fastest means of settling claims. The proposed increase of 17% in personal injury awards from the Judicial Council currently being considered by the government and the related 3-year review period of the Judicial Guidelines, threatens to drive more cases out of the Injuries Board and into costly litigation. Increased awards will also mean increased premiums and Ireland already pays considerably higher awards than most other countries. Motorists, businesses, sports, community and voluntary organisations simply cannot afford for this to happen.
If we continually review upwards personal injury awards every three years and it takes two and a half years to settle a claim at the Injuries Board, claimants will simply hold on a few months and bring their case into litigation. Not only will awards increase but legal fees will increase the cost of claims exponentially. The Alliance for Insurance Reform brings together 47 civic and business organisations from across Ireland, representing over 55,000 members, 700,000 employees, 614,000 volunteers and 374,000 students in highlighting the negative impact of persistently high premiums and calling for real reforms that will quickly reduce liability and motor insurance premiums to affordable levels and keep them that way.
Notes:
- Injuries Resolution Board Liability Report 2024, p.6:
- The most recent NCID liability report from the Central Bank published in March 2025 found that premiums increased by 4% in 2023 and have increased by 17% since 2020, despite a range of government reforms. The liability market has also proven highly profitable for insurers, showing an operating profit of 13% in 2023.
- The same NCID liability report showed that average legal costs are less than €1,000 for cases finalised at the Injuries Board but over €23,000 once it enters into litigation, whilst awards for claimants were the same in either channel (also at €23,000). Almost 70% of cases settle in the litigation channel.