James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Troy.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Perjury and Related Offences Bill 2018. I commend Senator Pádraig Ó Céidigh on his work in this area. I also commend ISME. This is a very important Bill and I am glad that work has been done on it. The Bill will place perjury on the Statute Book as a statutory offence. It has not been classed as such an offence to date. Until now, it has been a common law offence and, as a result, has been quite difficult to prosecute in the courts. Consequently, many of those who lie on oath in a case or who exaggerate are often let off scot-free. There are consequences for lies that have been told in court. Reputations are damaged, livelihoods are lost and in more serious cases, liberty can be lost. The impact is most acutely felt in the area of insurance. A minority of people bring fraudulent or exaggerated claims. They lie in court, try to get compensation and rarely suffer any consequences. There is a right for genuine complainants to get fair compensation and to be allowed to prosecute their claims. Most people never see the inside of a court. Those who do are often nervous wrecks. However, a few seem to be very comfortable in there and like to come back again and again.

In the context of insurance, we have seen that community facilities, businesses, taxi drivers, hotels, crèches, pubs and many others have been crippled by high insurance costs and very often high premiums as a result of a claim culture. These claims and increases in insurance costs increase the cost of living, often causing the closure of businesses and community facilities. It is damaging our society and has now reached a crisis point. Communities are afraid to put on services for their community, such as activities for young people or cultural activities, because they are afraid of claims, and the social fabric is being damaged as a result. A message has to go out from here that there will be no more access to easy money for those who are prepared to lie in court.

We have to address the issue of genuine cases where the awards made are simply too high. Awards in the Republic are often multiples of those in the UK. People are entitled to fair compensation but not excessive compensation. Equally, for insurance companies that charge high premiums, the projects and efforts being undertaken in the Dáil and Seanad are to drive down premiums, not to increase profits for insurance companies. That message must be very clear.

I want to compliment a number of steps taken by my own party. Billy Kelleher, MEP, when a Member of this House, introduced the Civil Liability and Courts (Amendment) Bill 2018. The purpose of that Bill was to amend the Civil Liability Act to provide that where a court dismisses a case on the basis that it is a fraudulent action, the court must refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions. I also thank my colleague, Deputy Troy, who is pursuing that Bill and a number of other avenues to tackle fraudulent insurance cases in this country and the other ways in which insurance is unnecessarily being driven high.

Fianna Fáil would establish a national claims information database, an anti-fraud unit within An Garda Síochána, an index to track business insurance premiums and would update the Personal Injuries Assessment Board book of quantum regularly. Something that I experienced as a practising barrister is the inconsistency in awards that could be made in different parts of the country depending on where or who the case was taken against. The message must also go out to insurance companies that this Bill, which will make it a statutory offence to perjure oneself, not only applies to claimants but also to any defendant and anybody acting for an insurance company. The message must be very clear that one will not be allowed to go into court to lie to get easy money. This Bill will make it a statutory offence to perjure oneself and act as a deterrent to those who are thinking about that. If they go in to lie, they will be prosecuted.

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