Alliance urges Government action on soaring premiums despite falling claims
Central Bank report shows legals fees have risen from €1,024 to €22,803
The Alliance for Insurance Reform calls for urgent Government action to be taken to address intractably high insurance premiums in the face of ever decreasing volumes of claims and award sizes.
Flora Crowe, Board member, Alliance, said: “The report from the Court Service shows the impact of the Judicial Guidelines with a further 29% reduction in the number of personal injury (non-medical negligence) cases being heard by the High Court.”
Crowe noted that since 2021, the number of cases are down by 50%.
“Given this is where the highest awards are made, it makes sense that savings are being generated, however they are not being passed on to businesses and others. In fact, premiums continue to rise for many and with the cost of doing business already too high, we need Government to address this. Many reforms such as the Guidelines were introduced but all we see are insurer profits rising,” said Crowe.
Crowe noted that as the Injuries Resolution Board can now process claims of greater complexity, “we need to see more cases settle in that channel.”
“Access to the courts is vital in a modern democracy and certainly makes sense for highly contentious or complex cases but that won’t apply to a majority of cases still being settled via litigation or the Courts.
“A recent report from the Central Bank shows no meaningful difference in public liability awards settled through litigation (€23,458) rather than through the Injuries Resolution Board (€23,122), yet legal fees are, on average, 22 times greater (rising from €1,024 to €22,803),” said Crowe.
According to Crowe, the high volume of cases being settled in the litigation channel (69%) requires “urgent attention” as these additional and “often unnecessary costs” are inevitably being picked up by policyholders.
