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

I have not seen the report's detailed recommendation. In our work, however, we have come up against certain constitutional road blocks that affect what we can do regarding personal injuries, including soft tissue ones. What is clear from the relevant data that I have seen is that we are outliers when it comes to award levels and the number of claim applications. A personal injuries commission could, if set up in the right way, do much to tackle this issue. The current system is an incentive for fraud and exaggerated claims. It also incurs a higher and uncertain cost for industry in terms of its work, its provisioning, etc. That issue is a large part of the picture.

We have had conversations on whether there is a claims culture or environment in Ireland, but we need to examine the situation because it is adding a cost for everyone who drives responsibly. Accidents happen, as do penalty points and whatnot, but we all suffer because some people may be taking advantage of how personal injury claims are settled. I hope that the fraud database will address this issue. It is another key part of the architecture that we need to put in place as part of the reforms that we are trying to introduce.