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 injuryclaims 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