RGDATA supporting call for payouts

RGDATA is supporting the Alliance for Insurance Reform’s call for payouts for fully recoverable minor injuries to be slashed by 80%. Read the editorial by AIR to be published in the Irish Independent this week.

The Alliance has called on the Judiciary to reduce damages for minor injuries by 80%. As the Judicial Council prepares Personal Injuries Guidelines to replace the Book of Quantum, the Alliance for Insurance Reform has called on the judiciary to have regard to the common good in their deliberations and reduce awards for minor personal injuries by 80%.

Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, including retailers, said “The single biggest element of the cost of insurance, as determined by the Cost of Insurance Working Group, the Personal Injuries Commission and the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database, is compensation; and general damages for minor injuries account for the vast majority of compensation payouts. What we award for minor, fully recovered injuries in Ireland is 4.4 times higher than in England & Wales and further multiples higher than other European jurisdictions. An 80% reduction on minor injuries would only bring us down to where England and Wales currently are and would still be nowhere near the equivalent damages in other European countries – and England and Wales are further slashing their damages for minor whiplash injuries later this year.

“We call on the Judicial Council to have regard to the common good in reducing general damages for fully recovered minor injuries by at least 80% to reflect international norms and norms already established by the Court of Appeal.”

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RGDATA, the representative association for independent food and convenience shops and supermarkets throughout the country, has expressed “deep disappointment” with the Government’s newly published Action Plan for Insurance Reform.

 Vague promises

“RGDATA has been campaigning for specific measures that will bring down the totally unsustainable cost of shop insurance since 2015 – yet here we are again with yet another Government report full of vague promises about actions – many with no timescale and others that won’t be delivered for a further 12 months or more” said RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley.

 Lower premiums

“It is over four years since Cost of Insurance Working Group was set up and we still have high costs and a Government Report talking about “monitoring personal injury levels” and “examining” dual pricing and “reviewing” the Occupiers Liability Act.  When will the Government realise that the time for monitoring, reviewing and examining insurance costs is over? We need to see cost reductions, lower premiums, and accountability now”.

Actual reform

A single award winning fine food convenience store paying €120,000 a year for shop insurance can’t wait another yet year for the insurance premium to come down. Like the many other small businesses in the hospitality and services sectors and the community, sports, heritage and youth services around the country we need actual reforms that reduce the cost of claims and insurance premiums not more rhetoric and vague promises.”

 Unfair and unbalanced

RGDATA is particularly disappointed that promises to deal with the onerous, unfair and unbalanced Duty of Care put on property owners are not being delivered. RGDATA got legal specialists to draft up the simple changes required to make the system fairer and when we circulated them to the sub- committee we were promised that the Department of Justice would be back to the Sub Committee with proposals on Duty of Care reform by Christmas.

 Legislative reform

This report only refers to “examining changes to the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995” with a view to “strengthening notices and waivers to increase protections for consumers; business” and the deadline for the Department of Justice “indicating preferences for changes” has been pushed out to February 2021 with the actual proposals not due to be made until June 2021. Everyone who deals with legislative reform in this country knows that that means we will not have any changes to the legislation until late 2021 at the earliest.

“That will be far too late for the many businesses and groups impacted by this issue. Hundreds of businesses will close and out of control insurance costs will be one of the key reasons.”

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“The Cost of Insurance Working Group (CWIG) started with a bang back in 2016 when an RGDATA delegation of independent retailers gave a passionate presentation on why small businesses needed action to tackle rising insurance costs. It ended with a whimper on Friday when it published its final report,” said RGDATA’s Tara Buckley. “It ended with a whimper on Friday when it published its final report.”

Duty of Care

The insurance reform agenda has now been passed to a Cabinet Sub Committee led by the Tanaiste and packed with all the key Ministers including Finance, Justice and Public Expenditure. RGDATA has sent the Sub Committee an amended Occupiers Liability Act that rebalances the onerous Duty of Care imposed on property owners.

“RGDATA has drafted the legislation. Now we are urging the Government to get moving on introducing the changes required to get the crippling costs of insurance under control,” RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley.

Alliance for Insurance reform

The Alliance for Insurance Reform welcomed the establishment of a Cabinet Committee Sub-Group on insurance reform, to replace the Cost of Insurance Working Group.

Peter Boland, director of the Alliance said that “The Sub-Group on insurance reform is to be welcomed. Its predecessor, the Cost of Insurance Working Group, had become a box-ticking exercise and unfortunately for policyholders, none of the boxes that were ticked applied downward pressure on insurance costs. The success of this Sub-Group will be measured by the speed with which it moves to get real reforms in place.

Reduction in personal injury claims

“We note that on the launch of the plan, Deputy Sean Fleming, Minister of State at the Department of Finance identified a substantial reduction in the level of damages for personal injuries paid out in Ireland as being key to meaningful reform. Additionally, we would see the rebalancing of the duty of care applied to policyholders in Ireland as an essential part of the reform agenda.

“We look forward to seeing the detailed plans and timelines of the Sub-Committee and trust that it will move swiftly to implement them as it is clear that the Irish economy will not recover from the pandemic through SMEs, nor will Irish society recover through charity, voluntary and community groups, unless insurance is sorted.”

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