Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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120. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the most recent Personal Injuries Commission report and the recommendation to establish a judicial council and for the Minister for Justice and Equality to formally request that the council review the award guidelines; and the estimated impact this will have on the Book of Quantum. [46385/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I was pleased to submit the Second and Final Report of the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) to Government on the 18th September 2018. The publication of this Report now concludes the challenging work programme of the Personal Injuries Commission since its establishment in January 2017.

The Report makes ten recommendations, the implementation of which will be a matter for each of the bodies responsible. While the recommendations are not time-bound due to the nature of them, it is expected that they will be acted upon by the bodies responsible as soon as possible.

In this regard, I have written to relevant Government colleagues, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Health, and other organisations including the Garda Commissioner, Insurance Ireland, The Law Society, The Council of the Bar of Ireland and the Law Reform Commission seeking co-operation in advancing the implementation of the recommendations relevant to them.

The recommendation referred to by the Deputy anticipates the Judicial Council potentially availing of assistance, as appropriate, from the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB). Depending on how the guidelines are developed i.e. if the guidelines were to be along the lines of the Judicial Studies Board guidelines published in England & Wales, there is the potential that they could effectively replace the current Book of Quantum.

To this end, the recommendation addressed to PIAB, has effectively been superseded. In that context, PIAB has written to my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, offering its assistance either in the compilation of any guidelines by the Judicial Council or in the event of a requirement to produce such “interim” guidelines. PIAB have a considerable amount of data relating to personal injury claims that they have assessed and will engage as may be required.