SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO REFORM IRELAND’S COMPO CULTURE

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Most people agree that there’s a need to reform the way personal injury compensation is determined in this country, according to the findings of a survey presented at a conference on the evolving personal injuries landscape in Ireland, hosted by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB)

A significant majority (82%) of those surveyed believed there is a compensation culture in Ireland (i.e. an environment where making a personal injury claim is encouraged).

And while most people (62%) agreed on a need to reform the way personal injury compensation is determined in Ireland, there are low levels of awareness of the existing reform programme in place.

Of those who felt they knew enough about compensation in Ireland, 96% were of the opinion that reform is needed in the way personal injuries compensation is determined.

Just under one third (30%) of those surveyed stated that they had had an accident at work, on the road, or in a public place, which they believed to be caused by someone else and where they sustained an injury. Of those who had sustained an injury in those circumstances one third (34%) had made a personal injury claim.

The survey also found that 70% agreed that compensation awards are now higher in Ireland than in other countries, while 89% believed that personal injury claims should require evaluation by reference to an independent medical examination.

Meanwhile 80% felt there’s a strong appetite for prosecuting insurance fraud. There was a low level of confidence among respondents that lower premiums would follow any reduction in personal injury award values (only 34% said that such reductions in the event of lower award values would be somewhat likely or very likely).

The survey also revealed a strong appetite for customers to use technology e.g. black boxes/dash cams that could reduce insurance premiums; with 82% receptiveness to black box technology and 79% receptiveness to dash cam technology.

* Amárach Research published the survey, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people, conducted on 20-29 April this year.