Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Chair is absolutely right when he expresses fears about people leaving the market and what that might mean. He is also right when he says the Government should come with actions. I will take action. The sooner we can show consensus between the Government and the Opposition parties, the sooner we will send the right signal to the industry and the other players that something is about to happen. I hope that can have a calming effect in terms of preventing any unnecessary spikes in premiums before the actions actually begin to take hold.

I would like to set out what I think the committee will hear about the costs associated with awards being given in court. Representatives of the industry will probably say that 60% of these costs can be attributed to legal fees. Certain players in the industry have voiced an expectation that when an accident happens or damage is done, people will go looking for an amount to cover the fixing of the car, but they will also look for more than that as an additional type of compensation. That is a cultural issue. A CEO in the industry made the point that we cannot have low premiums and high court awards. We need to bear such cultural factors in mind. I think the committee is right to focus on the Injuries Board. I believe, on the basis of the engagements I have had, that such cultural factors can be avoided. The industry wants certainty because it needs to provide against uncertainty. Volatility does not help it to make such provision, so it always provides for the higher cost. Even if the Injuries Board were beefed up, more transparency would help because it would give the industry certainty about what it needs to provide against. If the number of cases coming through the Injuries Board were to increase by 50%, it would mean that 30% of cases would be coming through the Injuries Board, 10% of them would be going to litigation and 60% would be dealt with outside the Injuries Board. I think that would help to have a calming influence on premiums.