Mr. John Cahalan:

I thank the Chairman and members of the joint committee. In my experience the relationship is straightforward. Accidents cause injuries and injuries, real or imagined, cause claims. The cost of insurance is determined by the number of accidents and the cost of the accidents. The cost of an accident has two key components, the cost of the compensation payment - that is how much we settle for - and the cost it takes us to agree that settlement. If we want to reduce the price of insurance, we need to simply reduce the number of accidents, reduce the cost of the compensation payout and reduce the cost of getting to that compensation or payment decision. There is a role for the customer, for the insurer and the State. The role of the customer is to run a tight ship, so that he or she is health and safety conscious, understands his or her risks and manages those risks. We as the insurer play a very important part in terms of giving the right cover, making sure that we provide the protection that they need. We need to price it because we need to pay for the claims, but we also provide a great support in terms of helping them to survey their enterprise, understand their risks and puts steps in place to mitigate to those risks. The third component is the role of the State. There is a role for the leadership of the joint committee to address the chronic and costly deficiencies that are inherent in the present system.

From FBD's perspective we fully support the endeavours of the working groups that are considering insurance matters. We have thrashed through quite a lot in the years 2016 to 2018. What we have highlighted in the slide on the screen is a summary of all of the important recommendations. I will identify two or three of the areas that we see as very significant in terms of that endeavour. First, the need to strengthen the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB. We need to tackle what I would consider the really widespread non-co-operation and gaming of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board process. I am referring to solicitors who do not provide sufficient detail, wait for an award, reject it so that it is released so that they can then issue court proceedings and essentially turn on their money machine. We also need a much more efficient process pre-litigation and during litigation. In the legal system, delays are everywhere and those inefficiencies cost the insurance company money. It is in the interest of the legal profession to have those delays. In my view, they profit from the procrastination. The legal system needs fundamental reform. We welcome the review by the President of the High Court, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly which I think needs to be radical and rapid.

In regard to the Personal Injuries Commission, we simply put too high a value on injuries in this country, in particular I am referring to soft tissue injuries. We know that in Ireland we pay about three times more for soft tissue injuries than they do in the United Kingdom. We know that in France, the system does not pay on soft tissue injuries unless it appears on a scan. I can guarantee that the vast majority of soft tissue injuries in Ireland would not appear on a scan. A minor ankle injury cost up to €54,700 in Ireland compared to €12,554 in the United Kingdom. We need to have internationally benchmarked awards and a consistent and objective approach to the assessment of injury.

We need to improve data sharing. In the fight against fraud, we need to share much more data and make the sharing more timely. We need to make it easy for insurance companies to access and interrogate the data.

There is a lot the customer can do, that the insurance company can do and I believe the leaders in Government can do a great deal. I ask the Chairman that the joint committee stay the course and drive home the reforms in a meaningful way. The choice is straightforward and clear. We can have high cost insurance because of high cost claims or we can have low priced insurance but low cost of claims. We cannot have low priced insurance and a high claims cost.

I thank the Chairman.