Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In summation, I firmly believe Insurance Ireland, as a representative body, needs to be doing more to highlight this. I acknowledge there is a separation of powers between the Legislature and the Judiciary but this practice, which has been going on for years, is getting worse. A load of people are ambulance chasing. There is no fallout for a solicitor in bringing a case on a no foal, no fee basis. As Ms Murdock said, insurers cannot recover the costs. Some fraudulent cases have been brought to court. They are known to be fraudulent and are a try-on in the courts. Why is Ms Murdock's representative group not approaching the Law Society of Ireland or the Department of Justice to state we need a change in legislation to target this activity and to stamp it out because it is an ongoing scourge and it is costing small businesses in particular. I know many small enterprises whose insurance costs will put them out of business. Some of them are on the cusp of operating while they seek new business without insurance and that is a terrible position for people to be put in. I hear what Ms Murdock is saying but it seems this is a nut that has not been cracked for a decade and longer and it has got worse. We are now possibly even worse that the United States, which was held up for years as being the litigation capital of the world. We are certainly right up there with it. In fairness, it is not enough for Insurance Ireland to come in as a representative body to highlight that these are problems, it cannot recover its costs and all the rest of it. Why is Insurance Ireland not going after the legal people who are bringing those cases? It should put some legal onus and liability on them for bringing cases that are known to be fraudulent. Those legal people bring them, get the plaintiff in a case to sign off on it and then say they have to test these cases in court. That should not be done.