Mr. Conor Faughnan:

It may not be something they are consciously trying to do. It is as much complacency as being complicit. On whether that figure has diminished, the answer is "No". The Injuries Board was undermined almost before it started. A Supreme Court action was taken to ensure that a solicitor could be involved if the plaintiff wished. At a stroke, that almost compromised the Injuries Board and now 96% of plaintiffs bring a solicitor with them. That 20% figure, unfortunately, has been there for a long time.

In terms of the way it happens, because 70% of this data is hidden - this would be my speculation and I cannot claim to have wisdom here but I think it likely, and we have challenged insurers on this - if someone wants to make a claim the Injuries Board reckons they are worth €20,000 or that is the best intelligent guess as to what it will recommend. Their solicitor says, "We will go to the insurance company, tell them we want €40,000 or we will go to court", and the insurance company will probably offer them €27,000 or €28,000 to make them go away. Every time the insurance company does that it undermines the Injuries Board. They are doing that because they are following their own self-interest, and we can trust them to do that. If they knew that there is no element of a roulette wheel in court and if the Injuries Board says €20,000 because that is what the book of quantum says and that is what a High Court judge will say to someone when they eventually get there, then the incentive is removed. As I said earlier, if there is one variable in this that can fix it, it is probably that.