The establishment of the Personal Injuries Commission was one of the key recommendations from the Report of the Cost of Insurance Working Group on the Cost of Motor Insurance approved by Government and published in January 2017. The Personal Injuries Commission is chaired by Justice Nicholas Kearns.
The Cost of Insurance Working Group Report identified measures that could be introduced to help reduce the cost of motor insurance for consumers and businesses. In relation to personal injury claims the Report concluded that:
- Awards for Personal Injury claims represent a significant component of an insurance company’s pricing model;
- Soft tissue claims represent a significant component of personal injury (PI) claims;
- Severity in soft tissue claims can be difficult to diagnose; and
- Approaches that link diagnosis, treatment, prognosis and awards of damages should be examined.
The Personal Injuries Commission was established and held its first meeting in February 2017 to investigate some of these issues further. The terms of reference for the Personal Injuries Commission, attached below, are set out in the Cost of Insurance Working Group Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance and cover an eighteen month period.
The Second and Final Report of the Personal Injuries Commission was published on 18 September 2018 following consideration by Government. The Report represents an amalgamation of the second and third phase of the PIC’s scheduled work and deals in the main with the benchmarking of Irish personal injury award levels and an examination of alternative compensation and resolution models in other jurisdictions. The Report also includes an update on the implementation of the recommendations from the PIC’s First Report. The work of the Commission has now concluded.