Mr. Kevin Thompson:

Insurance Ireland is also aware of the heightened level of focus on motor, public liability and employers' liability insurance in recent years. Insurance Ireland is keenly aware of the public concern about rising costs. We have sought to inform public policy responses to address the cores issue of the rising cost of claims. Specifically, on motor insurance, we set out our desired policy solutions in mid-2015 that included the international benchmarking of high personal injury awards and giving new powers to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, to handle more claims thus reducing the number of claims proceeding to expensive litigation. This led to us engaging with the Government's cost of insurance working group report, which was published in January 2017. It details 73 policy actions and the timeline for their implementation.

Insurance Ireland is keen to see fundamental and sustainable reform of our claims environment to reduce volatility in the market as it has an impact on our customers. Insurance Ireland also fully engages with the Government on employers' liability and public liability insurance. The fundamental issues of the cost of claims remain the same and many of the actions in the motor report can help to reduce costs in employers' liability and public liability.

The following are some relevant figures to illustrate the trends in this area: There has been a 48% increase in the average Circuit Court award, from €11,941 in 2013 to €17,722 in 2016, according to the Courts Service's annual report for 2016; there is a paragraph relating to Q3 of 2016, provided by the National Competitiveness Council, that I quoted earlier; according to the PIAB annual reports for 2011-16 there has been a 30% increase in the average PIAB employers' liability award from 2011 to 2016 and a 35% increase in PIAB public liability claims from 2011 to 2016; and according to the PIAB annual reports for 2011-16 there has been a 17% increase in the average PIAB public liability award from 2011 to 2016. As with the cost of claims in terms of motor insurance, Insurance Ireland will work with the Government and all stakeholders to help inform the policy responses in this area.

I hope my presentation has enlightened the committee about the issues faced by insurers. We are happy to answer any questions.