Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What the Minister of State seems to be saying is that we are heading towards a referendum if we want to deal with the issue of the level of awards which are impacting on the insurance industry and consumers. Has he received advice to the effect that there is no law this House can pass to address the issue of awards? The Personal Injuries Commission is benchmarking Ireland versus other jurisdictions, but is it its view that irrespective of what its recommendation will be that we do not have the capacity as a Legislature to address that issue? Could the Minister of State comment on that?

We need more engagement with the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB. We would welcome any moves in that regard. We need the information. The national claims information database has been consistently delayed. Other smaller issues that arise include the retention of CCTV data being aligned to the period within which people can report incidents so that at least claims can be defended. Bona fide claims should be dealt with and people who are the victims of accidents and involved in incidents should be properly compensated. Nobody is arguing otherwise, but there are issues in the industry that are having a really detrimental impact on consumers.

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