Mr. Brian Hanley:

I thank the Senator. In regard to international benchmarking, that is really important. Awards have typically been considerably higher here than in other countries. In 2019, the Personal Injuries Commission, which I think was chaired by a former President of the High Court, found that awards in Ireland were a multiple of 4.4 compared to the levels in England and Wales. Ours are 440% higher. We can cycle forward to last week, when a piece of research was conducted by the injuries board in conjunction with a consultancy firm on minor, small tissue injuries. The comparison there with England and Wales found that our awards were a multiple of 3.9, or almost 4.

It is not about a race to the bottom in regard to the size of awards and so on, and that is where international benchmarking comes in. We do not need to be paying 400% more in awards than our nearest neighbours. We need to look at what is happening in other countries and find something that is fair and appropriate for us. At the moment, paying such considerable multiples of awards makes us an outlier and it undoubtedly directly impacts the cost of premiums in this country. I welcome the commitment in the action plan for insurance reform to engage in international benchmarking. We will not be burdened by having those kinds of data to assess the type of scheme we want where awards can be set that are fair to claimants but also to policyholders, given the direct impact it has on them. At the moment, it is not sustainable with increases in insurance.

While we did see some benefit from the personal injury guidelines coming in in 2021, we saw what could happen with recent increases. That is why it is now necessary for there to be meaningful and considered reforms of how we are going to assess awards with international benchmarking, have greater input from the Injuries Resolution Board, and extend the review period. It should also come back to the Houses and probably to the finance committee to assess any recommendations from the Judicial Council about awards so that there is that piece of democratic oversight before the Government makes recommendations. There is scope and potential to make meaningful changes that I think will stabilise awards and international benchmarking is a huge part of that.