Mr. Kevin Thompson:

On that point, the insurance industry has actively engaged with the Government as part of the recommendations of the cost of insurance working group. As an industry, we have lobbied and advocated hard for reform of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to ensure it is given more powers and more claims are processed by the board at a reduced cost. We have also argued that the level of personal injury claim costs, as borne out by independent facts, is out of kilter with costs in other jurisdictions. Hence, we have actively engaged with the Personal Injuries Commission under the chairmanship of Mr. Justice Nicholas Kearns. We submitted data covering Ireland to the commission in order that awards made here could be benchmarked against those made in other jurisdictions. We hope a recommendation will be made providing that awards can be pitched at a level that society can afford. Insurance is very simple. Premiums are a function of claims and only when the cost of claims in this jurisdiction is addressed will we see real reform in respect of premiums.