Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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69. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions being taken regarding personal injury awards. [50141/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) assesses claims in line with the current level of damages. Outside of the detailed data provided by PIAB, comprehensive data on the total number of all claims made annually is not available in Ireland. Since it is believed that a significant number of claims are settled between the parties before entering the PIAB process, there are currently no known statistics for the total of personal injuries claims in Ireland.

In 2018, a total of 33,371 claims were received by PIAB.  The Board made 12,112 awards to the value of €298.55 million, of which 6,206 awards to the value of €153.6 million were accepted. Compared with 2017 the number of awards made and value of awards made by PIAB decreased by 4% and 5% respectively.

My Department has implemented a number of recommendations for which it has lead responsibility from the Cost of Insurance Working Group’s Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance.  These include the establishment of the Personal Injuries Commission, and certain amendments to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003.

The Personal Injuries Commission has made a total of 14 recommendations across its two reports, which are aimed at positively impacting the overall Irish claims environment. These recommendations are being progressed and are reported on through the Cost of Insurance Working Group.

I believe that the cumulative effects of PIAB’s work and the implementation of all the recommendations from the two Reports of the Personal Injuries Commission, alongside the reports of the Cost of Insurance Working Group and the measures contained in the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Act 2019, should bring greater consistency and predictability to awards, faster resolution of claims and ultimately, a reduction in insurance premiums. This will benefit consumers, businesses and society as a whole.