Mr. Brian McHugh:

We would think that it is not time just yet. In terms of our priority, we want to see the journey that has started, in terms of the personal injuries moving out of the courts system and into the Injuries Resolution Board, continue and not go backwards. That is really important. Further work has to be done there to make sure that we continue that journey because that is where they belong. We have only recently seen the IRB getting mediation powers whereby issues can be resolved through mediation within three months. That is hugely beneficial for everyone involved. In Ireland, we spend €1 billion every year on personal injuries through claims and legal costs and we have to address that.

In terms of the insurance companies themselves, we continue to call for more detailed information to be published down to insurance company levels in the national claims information database, NCID - the database of insurance information. That would be useful in terms of transparency.