Results 121-140 of 10,460 for speaker:Gerry Horkan

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: I thank Mr. Gilhooly and Mr. McGarry for their opening statements, in advance and this afternoon. The Law Society of Ireland and the Council of the Bar of Ireland are the 14th and 15th, or thereabouts, organisations that the committee has heard since last Wednesday, including the Minister of State at the start. I will not go back over all those sessions. There has been some insurance...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: The committee has been told, and it has been fairly consistent from all the witnesses the committee has heard, that around 10% of cases are going to the courts and that 19% or 20% are going to the PIAB. Will the witnesses clarify where the figure of 70%, 71% or thereabouts is coming from? Is it anecdotal or is it insurance industry propaganda? Is it one person's word or someone else's word?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: Settling in advance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: Let us return to the issue of liability when somebody has a crash. Let us say a person is driving down the road and somebody drives into the back of his or her car. That person knows it is the other person's fault and the liability is fairly clear, even though we all have insurance discs that say never to admit liability, even if one is in the wrong. That is standard information from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: One might be going down the road and somebody goes into the back of the vehicle. The person might be a bit sore and a bit frustrated the boot of the car is gone, etc. I presume the client has to find a solicitor. We do not have that kind of ambulance-chasing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: I am not saying we do; we do not. The witness does not need to refute it. The person finds a solicitor who says that, by and large, for somebody running into the back of a vehicle, one would get this or that. We have heard over all the sessions that whiplash in Ireland gets €15,000, whiplash in the United Kingdom gets £5,000 and whiplash in the rest of Europe does not exist....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: I am only asking the question.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: We are all totally sympathetic to anybody dealing with a serious injury. We heard from the car rental association this morning a suggestion that people are coming from other jurisdictions and faking crashes here in rental cars. It was suggested to us this morning that it is like insurance fraud tourism. We are trying to tease out everything we are hearing from all the different sides. Mr....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: No. The witness is answering in the same way as he dealt with a question I asked a few minutes ago. Have the witnesses any idea why the average payout we have been told time and again in the past few days is what it is? There is an argument that people are looking at one book of quantum indicating €15,000 and another indicates £5,000. Is there any other reason the sums could...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: I know that. We have heard the constitutional arguments and I know the Judiciary. I am not questioning the Judiciary. I just wonder whether the witnesses have any thoughts themselves. The witnesses are far more familiar with the process as they are involved in it day in and day out. I am just trying to discover whether they have any ideas as to why we have, allegedly, much greater...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: We are teasing out quite a lot this afternoon. We have been comparing the cost of insurance in Ireland with that in Bulgaria and Poland and it is clear that if the system of payouts is totally different then it is quite likely that the system of insurance is quite different. Mr. Murphy made reference to the profits of insurance companies. We keep being told that the competition is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: The book of quantum is there to reflect prevailing claims rather than to give guidance. Is that right? It is more a statistical, historical record of what is actually happening as opposed to what should be happening. The Judiciary has to have regard to it but need not stick to it. Is that correct?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: That is fine. I just wanted to confirm it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: It is a statistical back-up as to what judges might do if they feel like it, though they do not have to.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: I accept that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: Is there any statistical information about how often awards are way out of kilter in relation to the book of quantum? Is there any statistical analysis that shows that, for example, in 95% of cases the awards were within 10% of the average?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: That is quite helpful. I thank Ms Moorhead. It was said that 70% of claims were settled. Are most of them settled before going to the Injuries Board or afterwards?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: It all goes back again to data sharing. This has been the case in every session we have had. Does Mr. Gilhooly have any idea of the proportion of legal costs as a percentage of the total cost of motor insurance claims?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: People who go to the Injuries Board incur costs with the legal profession, as do people who settle, which is presumably a part of the overall payout figure.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Rising Cost of Motor Insurance: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Sep 2016)

Gerry Horkan: It reduces their compensation.