Note of Meeting with Minister Bruton and Insurance Ireland,
Friday 6 November 2015 DJEL, Kildare St
Attendance:
Insurance Ireland: Mr Kevin Thompson Chief Executive, Insurance Ireland, Declan
Jackson, Director Government Affairs, Insurance Ireland and Gerry O'Sullivan, Q4 Public
Relations
DJEI: Minister Bruton, Breda Power, Assistant Secretary, Derval Monahan AP PIAB
Liaison Unit and John Maher AP Strategic Policy Division.
Minister Bruton opened the meeting and briefly outlined DJEI’s remit in relation to the
Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB), the legislative review and the review by PIAB
of the Book of Quantum,
Insurance Ireland explained that they felt that the main aims of the PIAB have been achieved
in terms of fairly and promptly compensating victims of accidents involving personal injuries
in a cost effective manner. However, they would like to see more cases settled in the PIAB
process, They also referred to the fact that approximately 90% of claimants use solicitors,
Minister Bruton pointed out that PIAB don’t pay for the claimants legal costs and that
claimants have a right to be represented if they so wish. Insurance Ireland explained that a
large number of personal injury cases are settled without referral to the PIAB and that
roughly 20% of cases are referred to the PIAB. Of these cases, approximately 40% are
rejected and end up being resolved by the parties after the threat of litigation or on the steps
of the Court. A small number of cases are finalised by the Courts.
There was some discussion on the statistics on the number of personal injuries cases from the
Courts Service Annual Reports for 2014 and 2013 and the average level of Court awards.
Insurance Ireland referred to high awards made by the Courts. Minister Bruton pointed out
that medical negligence cases were outside the remit of the Personal Injuries Assessment
Board (PIAB) process so these cases would have to be excluded when making any
comparisons as they often tended to be larger awards and distort the figures.
It was agreed that it would be useful for all stakeholders involved in the insurance sctor if the
Courts Service provided a breakdown in their Annual Reports of the statistics for motor,
employer and public liability personal injury claims and for medical negligence claims.
There was some discussion about the large number of untracked cases which aren’t resolved
in the PIAB process or before the Courts and they would appear to be settled by the parties
involved and their insurance companies, DJEI commented that it would be useful to know
details of the settlements made and if legal costs are covered in the settlements by the
insurance companies. The Minister said that it would be very helpful if the Insurance Sector
could supply information on these cases so that we have the full picture of all personal injuryclaims to assess the possible reasons for the increases in the cost of insurance. DIET
suggested that at a recent meeting with DFinance they had suggested that the CSO may be the
appropriate body to collect data on personal injury claims from the various stakeholders in
order to get the full picture of all personal injury claims.
DIET pointed out that the vatious stakeholders in the insurance sector are all using and
quoting different insurance data and that it would be useful if everyone worked off similar
data so that we would have a better chance of understanding the insurance sector. Insurance
Ireland agreed with this and said that they are in dialogue with the Society of Actuaries of
Ireland with a view to them doing a study of the Irish motor insurance market similar to a
study done in the UK on the UK motor insurance market. Insurance Ireland expressed a
willingness to engage with the State sector to resolve the issues around the timeliness and
comprehensiveness of data on commercial insurance costs. DJEI stated that while it had no
policy responsibility for the monitoring, supervision or regulation of the sector it was
prepared to engage with the industry to facilitate a greater understanding of what data might
usefully be presented.
Insurance Ireland suggested that a revised Book of Quantum is urgently required and they felt
that if there was an agreed Book of Quantum (BOQ) that the PIAB, lawyers and judiciary
would use, this would assist in alleviating some of the issues driving the cost of motor
insurance in the industry. The Department said that PIAB are working on a new Book of
Quantum and have been working with key stakeholders in obtaining data on insurance claims
and settlements. The Department acknowledged the cooperation by Insurance Ireland in this
process.
Insurance Ireland briefly mentioned other issues that are impacting on the cost of insurance,
namely the Setanta Insurance case, Solvency II, changes to Court jurisdiction limits. They
explained that insurance is the only product for sale that you don’t actually know the true cost
of it at the point of sale, The sector needs certainty on costs and prices in order to set aside
the appropriate level of reserves.
Insurance Ireland have recently met with DTransport in relation to the Motor Insurance
Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) and have sent a paper to DFinance in relation to the MIBI and the
Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF). Insurance Ireland said that they have also met with the
PIAB and have agreed to meet with them on a monthly basis to discuss issues of mutual
concern.
With regard to the legislative review, DJEI said that the Department is examining the
submissions received in the public consultation process and propose to have the Heads of Bill
drafied in Quarter 1 2016.
D Monahan
PIAB Liaison Unit
17 November 2015