The Gazette 1993

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GAZETTE

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DECEMBER 1993

Society Rebuts IBEC Survey

November. He said that Irish industry was no less safe and had no more accidents then anywhere else, but Ireland had a much higher level of claim per accident occurring and that suggested that there was a lot more at play than just a lack of safety in the workplace. He said the legal process encouraged people to make a claim and, because there was a nuisance value in many claims, insurance companies were encouraged to settle them. On RTE radio "News at One" programme on 15 November, Tony Briscoe, Head of Health & Safety Division of IBEC said that IBEC supported the proposal by Seamus Brennan to cap injuries awards. IBEC was not concerned, he said, with claims where there was genuine injury and liability, but was concerned about the extent to which opportunistic claims were arising which were in nobody's interest. On the same programme, John Maguire of the Construction Industry Federation suggested that good safety auditing, reducing the severity and frequency of claims, would, of itself, automatically bring down the cost of insurance. The President of the Society, Michael O'Mahony, responded on behalf of the Law Society. He said that the implication of the IBEC statement was that only victims of serious injuries should be permitted to claim. It was unfair that a vulnerable, injured person, should be asked to carry a subsidy for the high cost of insurance and employers' liability premiums. He said it was a simplistic approach to assume that if awards were reduced the cost of insurance premiums would come down and he noted that the insurance industry had not confirmed a correlation between the two. The Minister of State for Commerce & Technology, Seamus Brennan, was also interviewed. He said the cost of

The proposal to cap awards for pain and suffering in personal injuries cases, proposed by the Minister of States for Commerce & Technology, Seamus Brennan, TD, received further media coverage during November with IBEC, the business and employers' confederation, supporting the Minister's proposals. The Law Society issued a detailed statement rebutting the IBEC case that claims against employers were endangering jobs and reiterated its opposition to a cap which would unfairly penalise victims of accidents who suffered injury through no fault of their own. Proposal to cap personal injuries awards News items in the Irish Press and Irish Independent of Monday 8 November, 1993, reported on comments by the Minister of state for Commerce & Technology, Seamus Brennan, TD, at the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis when he vowed not to yield to "vested interests" opposing his plans to cap compensation awards. The Minister said the current level of insurance premiums operated as a tax on employment. A report issued by IBEC, the business and employers' confederation, of a survey of the experiences of 300 of their member companies concerning employers' liability claims received coverage in all the daily papers of Monday 15 November, 1993. The survey showed that on average one in every eight accidents at work resulted in a personal injury claim. The average cost of settling a claim in court was £21,000 and an out of court Brennan's proposals and claimed that people were almost being encouraged to make claims. Declan Madden, Director of Specialist Services at IBEC, was interviewed on "Morning Ireland" on RTE Radio 1 on 15 settlement was £13,800. IBEC expressed support for Minister

Seamus Brennan, TD, Minister of State for Commerce & Technology, argues that the cost of insurance is affecting job creation.

insurance was directly affecting job creation because many companies could not get employers' liability cover and he knew of one instance where 40% of the wages bill was being spent on employers' liability premiums. He said that, as yet, the Government had taken no decision on the matter but he was committed to introducing a cap on the level of awards. He said he took on board the Society's point that there was no simplistic solution but, nonetheless, if the levels of awards paid out in Ireland were at the same level to those in the European countries with which we compete, over £100m less per annum would be paid out. The Minister said that he was willing and intended to discuss the matter with the Law Society. He was asking for a trade-off i.e. asking the public to limit their right to high levels of awards and to set that against the common good and the common benefit to industry and motorists of having reduced insurance costs. The Evening Herald of 15 November, 1993, also reported on the IBEC survey. An article in the Irish Press of 16 November, 1993, entitled "Lawyers Angry at Plan to Cap Injury

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