Mr. Michael Horan:

I do not accept the Deputy's contention. Looking at the cost of motor claims from 2014 to 2017, the cost of motor claims in 2014 was about €1.1 billion. The cost of motor claims in 2017 was about €1.27 billion, a 15% increase. In the overall scheme of things, the total cost of motor claims in increasing. In addition, while the number of claims has reduced, the Department of Finance report showed that this was largely because damage claims had come down. The second motor data report from the Department of Finance showed that damage claims had come down in number. Damage claims are much less expensive to settle than injury claims. When I say damage claims, I mean the bumps, rear-end shunts and so on, own-damage claims, third party damage claims and windscreen claims. It takes many windscreen claims to make up the value of one injury claim. The Department of Finance report showed that the injury claims under €250,000 were increasing year-on-year by about 7% in cost. That is what is driving the problem for us. That is the defining issue. The cost-----