Campaigners say insurance companies have failed to pass on any benefit to their customers of a reduction in court pay-outs, and demanded that they lower premiums.
The Alliance for Insurance Reform said that a major fall in the number and value of personal injury awards was leading to millions of euro in savings for insurance companies.
This needed to be shared with policyholders in the form of much lower premiums, the Alliance said. If not the Government needs to act.
The comments come after guidelines aimed at slashing personal injury awards were credited with a major slump in the number of injuries lawsuits being filed in the courts.
The overall value of awards has also fallen significantly, data contained in the Courts Service Annual Report for 2022 reveals.
The report shows there was a 43pc decrease in new personal injury cases lodged last year across the courts compared with 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The overall value of personal injury awards, excluding medical negligence cases, also slumped by 6pc in the same period, down from €98.8m in 2019 to €92.6m last year.
The most dramatic decrease in award figures came in the Circuit Court where overall awards amounted to €15m last year, down 42pc from €25.9m in 2019.
Alliance board member and CEO of The Wheel, a representative body for Irish charities, Ivan Cooper, said the information contained in the Court Service Annual Report 2022 on personal injury actions raises major questions about insurance companies in Ireland and the premiums they charge.
“How much longer can this be allowed to continue in the face of mounting evidence that demands premium reductions? Awards fell by €36m last year.
“The Judicial Guidelines weren’t introduced solely for the benefit of insurance companies. The Government needs to do more as large parts of Irish society from business to the arts and everything in between are adversely impacted by exorbitant premiums,” Mr Cooper said.
The Alliance called for urgent Government action to be taken to address what it said was intractably high insurance premiums in the face of ever decreasing volumes of claims and award sizes.
“The Judicial Guidelines appear to have had a significant impact on the size of awards,” said Flora Crowe, Alliance board member and grocery store owner.
The number of awards made in Circuit Courts dropped to 57pc compared with 2019, with the value of the awards falling by 58pc.
New personal injury cases fell by more than 40pc in the last four years,
Mr Cooper welcomed “the clear benefits the Judicial Guidelines have yielded in terms of awards”.
He said: “The Judicial Guidelines weren’t introduced solely for the benefit of insurance companies and the millions of euro being saved because of them should be shared with small businesses, voluntary and community groups, sports and cultural organisations and charities right across the country. The Government needs to do more.”
Asked why premiums were not coming down, chief executive of Insurance Ireland Moyagh Murdock said: “The Alliance for Insurance Reform’s assertion that insurance costs remains high is entirely anecdotal.”
She said the insurance industry welcomed the judicial guides.
“We believe that the extensive reform agenda will have similar positive effects over time and is already having a positive impact on the motor insurance market with premiums down 19pc between 2017 and H2 2022.
“This is against a backdrop of significant inflation increases.”
Ms Murdock referred to data published in July by the Central Bank showing that only 3pc of litigated claims have been settled under the guidelines.
But she admitted that the majority of claims settled directly by insurers and by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board reflect the new Personal Injury Guidelines.
