Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the confusion. I was confused about which amendments we were taking in the group.

The new personal injuries guidelines that will come into effect under section 99 of the Judicial Council Act, which amendment No. 5 would, were adopted by the Judicial Council on Saturday, 6 March. These guidelines will set the level of damages to be awarded for different types of personal injuries. The new guidelines will replace the Book of Quantum, which has been used by the courts and the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to determine the level of awards. The Judicial Council and the personal injuries guidelines are both a function of the Judicial Council Act 2019, legislation which Sinn Féin facilitated. We did so, particularly in relation to the personal injury guidelines that were formulated and adopted under section 7 solely on the grounds that it would provide regularity in the level of personal injury awards and in doing so would reduce the cost of insurance for motorists, home owners and small businesses.

The insurance industry has lobbied hard for a reduction in personal injury awards for some time. Indeed, insurers have formulated and disseminated a narrative around the cost of claims and insurance fraud to justify the high cost of insurance. Sinn Féin has been instrumental in holding the insurance industry to account and exposing the inaccuracies of that narrative.

In its most recent report, the Central Bank has found that despite the cost of claims in motor insurance having fallen by 9% in the past decade, the average motor insurance premium has risen by 35%. The practice has been exposed of dual pricing whereby insurers target loyal customers and charge them artificially high premiums where the price does not reflect the likely cost of claims but the likelihood of customers to renew.

Nonetheless, any measure that can contribute towards a reduction in insurance prices is in the interests of consumers and for that reason we supported the Judicial Council Act and we support the adoption also of the personal injuries guidelines and amendments Nos. 5 and 6, which provide for the early coming into operation of these guidelines.

Under the amendments the courts will use the guidelines for personal injury proceedings coming before the courts from the commencement of section 99, except proceedings arising from an assessment made by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and rejected before section 99 comes into operation.

The amendments will also provide that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, on the commencement of section 99, will stop using the Book of Quantum and instead will use the new guidelines when assessing claims. Any claims before the board that have not been assessed will be assessed having regard to the guidelines and the Book of Quantum will no longer apply. That is fair and equitable. Sinn Féin will support these amendments so that newly adopted personal injuries guidelines deliver reduced costs for consumers. It is therefore disappointing that the insurance industry is already trying to row back from commitments to reduce prices in light of these new guidelines.

We will support amendments Nos. 5 and 6.