Dáil debates

Thursday, 8 November 2018

Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill 2018: Second Stage

 

2:20 pm

Photo of Maurice QuinlivanMaurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work of the Minister in bringing forward this Bill. It is important to change how the Personal Injuries Assessment Board works. As I see it, this is an initial step in addressing the escalating insurance costs that are hurting motorists, business owners and community groups throughout the State.

Unfortunately little action has been taken by the Government to date to address scandalous insurance costs in Ireland. People and businesses are not seeing any difference in their ridiculously high premiums.

I refer to a comment Deputy Kelleher made in support of his plea for the Minister to accept his Bill or bring forward another Bill to deal with the issue of when people have gone to court, blatantly lied and perjured themselves and made up stories that have clearly be proven to be not true. When these cases are rejected and chucked out of court, those responsible should be automatically referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and action should be taken against them. All of us are paying for the outcome of such conduct. Recently, I saw a clip of an incident. A woman went into a shop. She poured water on the ground and then left the shop. Then, a person went in after her. Then, suddenly the woman came back in and the second person fell on the water. The woman was the witness to the person falling on the water that she had poured on the ground. I understand the injury claim was subsequently rejected but no further action was taken. We need some action in such situations. This fraud needs to be tackled.

I am aware that the Government has set up the cost of insurance working group. Some of the recommendations of the working group are contained in the Bill. However, the working group is simply not enough. Businesses throughout Ireland are being bled dry by outrageous premiums that jump year-on-year regardless of whether a claim is made. I constantly hear from business owners and their representatives bodies about how insurance costs are threatening their existence and growth. Unfortunately no answers are available to customers from insurance companies on why their premiums are so high and no justifications are given for the extraordinary increases to which they are subjected.

Young motorists can face extraordinary premiums that can result in their being kept off the road. They cannot afford to pay €4,000 or €5,000 per year in premiums. This is particularly difficult for younger people in rural areas where there is no alternative source of transport. It is a major problem for these people to get to work or college. This needs to be addressed.

Insurance companies hold a special place in the Irish market as it is a legal requirement for motorists and businesses to purchase their services. This guaranteed business is of great benefit to the profits of these companies. It should, therefore, come with some additional oversight. Far more work needs to be done by the Government to challenge this industry and make the operations more transparent to ensure Irish consumers are protected. Perhaps the Minister can outline what other actions the Government will take with insurance companies directly. Although this Bill is one step, it is a small one. Far more needs to be done to really tackle this problem.

The Bill seeks to introduce changes to how the Personal Injuries Assessment Board operates. The body was set up with the intention of taking a certain portion of claims out of the court system, and to make the cost of claims cheaper as a result. The reality is that consumers are not seeing these saving in their premiums.

The Bill contains a number of recommendations arising from the cost of insurance working group, including cases of non-co-operation such as non-attendance at medical examinations, refusal to provide details of special damages and reviewing the book of quantum.

I welcome the spirit of the Bill and what it seeks to do. However, I wish to highlight some concerns. If the Minister could address some of these concerns and questions I would be most appreciative. Section 8 deals with a situation where assessors have requested further information or documentation from the claimant and have requested that the claimant submit himself or herself for a medical examination. If the claimant fails to present himself or herself for a medical examination, the court may make an adverse costs award in respect of the offending party. I understand the rationale behind this. The idea is to try to get maximum co-operation of claimants to make the process easier and quicker. My question relates to the possible constitutional issues arising from forcing someone to undergo a medical examination and any consequent refusal having an adverse financial impact on the person. Has this particular issue been examined by the Department?

Sinn Féin has a problem with and an objection to section 11. The section seeks to change the composition of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. As it stands, two members of the board are nominated by Irish Congress of Trade Unions while one person is nominated by IBEC and one person by the Irish Insurance Federation or any successor of it. The proposed change would remove the power of ICTU to nominate two people to the board and replace it with one nomination from Insurance Ireland and one nomination from the Central Bank. Sinn Féin will not support this section. We will bring forward an amendment on Committee Stage to ensure the Irish Congress of Trade Unions retains its nominations to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. I would appreciate if the Minister could explain why the Government wishes to take these nominations away from ICTU but not from the insurance industry, for example.

I have another question relating to section 13. Why exactly is there a need for an amendment to the principal Act to give the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation powers to take money back from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board? How much money does the PIAB currently have in reserve? How much does the Minister intend to take back? What is the rationale for this change?

I thank the Minister for bringing forward the Bill. We intend to bring forward a couple of amendments on Committee Stage, as I have mentioned. I hope this is a start of a wave of action from the Government that will include challenging the insurance industry directly. The ultimate aim that we all seek is for lower premiums to be delivered for Irish consumers, businesses, community groups and other who must get insurance cover.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.