Minister D'Arcy welcomes passage of the Judicial Council Bill in the Seanad

Minister of State D’Arcy welcomes the completion of (Report and Final Stages) of the Judicial Council Bill in the Seanad today (Thursday), and is hopeful that the Bill can pass all stages of the Dáil over the next number of weeks to allow it be enacted before the summer recess.

The amendments, introduced at Report Stage by the Government today, demonstrate the Government’s commitment to address the issues being faced by consumers, businesses and voluntary groups in relation to the cost of insurance. The amendments provide for the establishment of a Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee whose sole function will be to develop the relevant personal injury guidelines for appropriate general damages for various types of personal injuries which, will fall to be adopted by the Judicial Council. As part of its function, the Committee will be required to review the guidelines at least once every three years and, if necessary, prepare amendments to the guidelines within the same timeframe. This is in line with the recommendations of the Cost of Insurance Working Group.

Also of note is that the amendments require that the membership of the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee consist solely of judges. This aligns with the practice in other jurisdictions such as England and Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Minister of State notes also that the amendments provide for the deletion of the functions of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board which relate to the preparation of the Book of Quantum, as the Guidelines will effectively supersede the Book of Quantum.

The Minister of State has stated that bringing the levels of personal injury damages awarded in this country more in line with those awarded in other jurisdictions is the single most essential challenge which must be overcome if there is to be a sustainable reduction in insurance costs. The amendments agreed today by the Seanad are an important and vital step forward to address this gap in award levels between Ireland and other jurisdictions, which was identified by the Personal Injuries Commission, chaired by Justice Nicholas Kearns.

Finally, the Minister of State notes that once the Bill is enacted, it will be a matter for the Judiciary to put in place the Judicial Council and to establish the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee. Notwithstanding that there will be a period of time required to establish the Council, he believes that work to establish the Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee could take place in parallel, and he hopes that the Judiciary can target an end of year completion date for an initial set of guidelines. He acknowledges that this may be an ambitious timeline but believes that because of the urgency of the situation, particularly in relation to minor soft tissue injuries, every effort should be made to try and achieve this objective.

The Minister of State is hopeful that the creation of personal injury damage guidelines by the Judiciary can result in the lowering of award levels. If this were to happen, the Minister of State would expect the insurance industry to take account of such reductions in its pricing.

Notes to Editors:

One of the Cost of Insurance Working Group’s key goals was to improve the personal injuries claims environment in Ireland, in light of concerns around the uncertainty of the claims process, the cost of the claims process, and the method for making awards for personal injuries. In light of the complexity of these issues, it recommended the establishment of a Personal Injuries Commission which as part of its terms of reference, conducted a review of average award levels. The Personal Injuries Commission, chaired by Justice Nicholas Kearns, produced two reports and in its second and final report, found that personal injury compensation payments for soft-tissue (‘whiplash’) injuries in Ireland are typically 4.4 times times higher than the award levels that claimants in England and Wales receive for broadly similar injuries. The Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) has highlighted the significant differential between award levels in this country and England and Wales in particular, and has made a number of recommendations to address the issue, including that the Judicial Council, once established, compile guidelines for appropriate general damages for various types of personal injury.

The PIC believes that the Judicial Council will in compiling the guidelines take account of the jurisprudence of the Court of Appeal, the results of the benchmarking exercise the Whiplash Associated Disorder as established by the Quebec Task Force (WAD) and any other factors it considers relevant. The PIC also recommended that as a starting point that a judicial recalibration of the existing Book of Quantum guidelines is a good starting point