Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What surprised me most of all last night was the fact that although we got into a pretty general conversation, nobody discussed awards. The reason insurance is high in this jurisdiction is because of the level of awards. The Department of Finance has conducted a report in which we cross-referenced Irish awards with similar awards in the UK. The indications are that an Irish award is between three and five and a half times more than a similar award in the UK. We are out of kilter with most other jurisdictions. We must get a handle on that and get the settlement channels to remain within the book of quantum, leaving to one side the outlier awards that are coming through the courts, which are outside the book of quantum. This is the big issue we have to deal with. I am not in a position to cap the awards nor do I believe is this Chamber. We have asked the Law Reform Commission, LRC, to conduct a report on the potential capping of awards. We do not know yet whether the LRC is prepared to do that body of work but we hope we will know soon. We must get a handle on the awards in this jurisdiction because if the awards are high then the premiums will be high.

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