Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for coming in and for the submissions, particularly the comprehensive submission from Mr. Boland. I would not share Ms Murdock's desire to have this rushed through; we need to try to do as much as we can on this legislation. It is interesting that personal injuries litigation has become a targeted profit centre for many legal entities, and that is a fact. It also assumes that the ability of the insurer to pay is unlimited because, ultimately, insurance companies just pass on the cost. Ms Murdock's interest in seeing reform now has more to do with companies potentially falling over because of insurance costs. I wonder about the amount of robust pushback Insurance Ireland has been putting on the Law Society for years. I have a concern about the level of escape from PIAB. I brought this up at the committee previously with regard to the attachment of post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and all of that.

Ms Murdock referenced a couple of court cases and said judges are not taking account of the judicial guidelines. That message needs to be hammered home by her organisation. It is not enough to come in here to the committee and say it. Insurance Ireland should be going out publicly and saying that it is unacceptable what is going on.

With regard to Mr. Boland’s submission, I ask him to comment on a couple of points. I am very involved with small and micro businesses and he touched on a lot of pinch points or nerves, to be honest. Businesses are looking for change and they are looking for this legislation to deliver. With regard to the NCID report, Mr. Boland's submission at page 4 states:

The only beneficiaries of this extended process are lawyers, who get an average of €18,680 in fees, 11 times more than the cost of delivering compensation through PIAB. Insurers pay those fees and charge the cost on to policyholders, even in circumstances where the policyholder is adamant the claim is fraudulent or exaggerated.

We all have experience of that. I again ask Ms Murdock what the members of Insurance Ireland are doing to try to challenge that situation in the courts. We all know that when it gets to the courts, the costs skyrocket. Mr. Boland might talk about that graph again so we absolutely understand why so few of these claims should be exiting the PIAB system in the first instance.

Second, on page 9 of the submission, he states that the alliance proposes legislation, including a mechanism to periodically review the legislation. Does he mean the legislation we are scrutinising now or all of the PIAB legislation?

With regard to Insurance Link, Mr. Boland states that it should be taken off Insurance Ireland and made completely independent. That is a prerequisite we should look for. It is my understanding that, over the years, it has been very difficult to attract insurance companies to this country because the level of data on insurance payout has not been available and people cannot make a sound business judgement as to whether it is a good or bad market to enter.