Tanaiste Mary Harney today promised that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board will be hearing cases 'early in the new year'.
She said that the draft legislation for the board had been approved by the Cabinet yesterday and will now be prepared as a matter of urgency. She said she hoped to have the legislation signed into law by the end of this year and underlined that tackling the high cost of insurance in Ireland was her number one political priority.
She said the PIAB will offer a lower cost and speedier means of finalising personal injury claims that the current board based system.
'It is widely accepted that litigation costs add in excess of 40% to the cost of compensation and that this has attributed to the high cost of insurance in this country,' she said in an address to the SFA's annual conference today.
'By eliminating the need for litigation costs where legal issues are not in dispute, the PIAB will significantly reduce the cost of delivering compensation,' she added.
The establishment of the PIAB is part of the Government's wider Insurance Reform Programme, which is overseen by a Ministerial Committee chaired by the Tanaiste.
Other components of the programme include the Penalty Points System, and legislation being prepared to streamline court procedures for personal injury as well as tacking spurious and exaggerated claims.
