Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Having listened to the contribution made by Senator Eugene Murphy, with which I agree, and the response made by the Minister of State, I was reminded of a line that may have been incorrectly attributed to the late Dr. Garret FitzGerald. He was reputed to have objected, on one occasion, to a policy measure on the basis that while it was all very well in practice that it would not work in theory.

As the Minister of State will be aware, the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, was established in 2003 to try to divert personal injuries claims from the courts, reduce legal costs, reduce the pressure on the courts system and relieve upward pressure on insurance premiums. As we also know, to knowingly or recklessly give false statements in any court, either in direct evidence or by affidavit, amounts to perjury, which is a very serious offence that carries substantial sentences. The gravity of this offence is underlined in the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Bill 2018. It was originally sponsored by my former Seanad colleague, Pádraig Ó Céidigh, and I hope that the Bill will pass its final Stages in the House this afternoon. While the legislation deals with the situation in the courts, it is a remarkable fact that while the PIAB process was intended to be a substitute of sorts for the courts, there appears to be no legal penalty of any kind for making false or misleading statements in an application to the board for a claim of damages. In 2019, a total of 31,500 applications were made to the board and 11,500 awards were made. Approximately 20,000 applications were rejected by PIAB each year for the past several years as being unmeritorious for whatever reason and deserving of no award of damages. Therefore, PIAB rejects well over 60% of all applications each year.Nobody is suggesting all these rejected applications were false or misleading because there can be many factors involved in the rejection of a claim but, given the sheer number of rejected claims, it is difficult to believe all of them were based on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Since personal injuries actions are regularly rejected by the courts based on false and misleading evidence, there is a likelihood that a substantial proportion of claims rejected by PIAB were based on allegations that were shown to be false or not wholly true. While perjury in a court of law runs the risk of prosecution and a serious penalty, there appears to be no penalty whatsoever in law for making a false or misleading claim to PIAB. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 and the very substantial amending Act in 2019 place no positive duty on claimants to tell the truth and do not even contain the words "false", "misleading" or "truthful", or any words like them. That is extraordinary given the onus of honesty that is correctly placed on applicants to other State agencies. The Nursing Homes Support Scheme Act contains stringent provisions against the making of false or misleading claims to the HSE. There is a penalty of up to three months in prison or a fine of €5,000 for knowingly or recklessly giving false or misleading information. When dealing with the Revenue Commissioners or the Department of Social Protection, applicants have to make regular and repeated commitments regarding the truth and accuracy of their applications. When getting a jobseeker's benefit or jobseeker's allowance, an applicant has to sign a declaration stating he or she is out of work and is a genuine claimant. This must be done every single week for which he or she collects the payment. Why on earth, therefore, is an applicant of PIAB not required to do likewise given that applicants are often making claims for tens of thousands of euro, or often hundreds of thousands?

Why is there no provision in law applying penalties for false or misleading statements to PIAB? Is the Minister of State aware of how many claims PIAB exposes as being false or misleading each year? How would he assess the knock-on effects of such claims on the work of PIAB and on insurance costs? As matters stand, any person can submit an application seeking damages that is a tissue of lies from start to finish but face no consequences for doing so. Does the Government have a reason for this? Will it justify further inaction?