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THERE HAVE BEEN calls today for legislation on whiplash costs as new figures reveal the average award in these cases is over €20,000.
Data provided by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) for the first six months of this year reveals that the average award for a whiplash case was €18,581 in general damages (pain and suffering) with a further €1,456 in special damages which covers payment for medical expenses and loss of earnings.
The board is the independent State body which assesses personal injury claims and compensation.
In the first half of the year, there were 4,500 awards made by the board and 70.8% of all personal injury motor cases assessed were whiplash related.
The average award for women in these cases is slightly above average – €19,066 in general damages and €1734 in special damages. For a passenger the average is €17,026 in general damages and €857 in special damages.
The data shows overall motor awards in numbers are split almost 50/50 between males and females. In 88% of whiplash cases, the claimant received an award of under €30,000.
When it comes to other injuries which did not involve whiplash, the average total award was higher at €27,386. This is likely to be because those injuries involved fractures or more serious injuries.
In September, the Personal Injuries Commission (PIC) said the average Irish soft tissue award was €17,338, 4.4 times the UK average.
Insurance Ireland CEO Kevin Thompson said these figures highlight the “urgent need” for a legislative response to whiplash costs.
“We have an agreed course of action for the Judicial Council, when established, to produce guidelines on appropriate levels of compensation in Ireland similar to what exists in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
“What is needed now is a timeline for the Judicial Council Bill so the opportunity for reform of high whiplash costs is not missed and we deliver a sustainable and predictable personal injury compensation system,” he said.
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Stop with the increases to health insurance already. Cut the hell out of the health system then squeeze loads of people out of health insurance so they’ll be relying on public health again – that is unbelievable. Is anybody in charge of this government?
No there is no leadership. They’re just plodding along hoping no one rocks the boat before the 2 year period is up so they can all quality for the government pensions gravey train.
Why should the young subsidise the health costs of the old. It seems that the government wishes to screw everyone bar themselves…….
@Brian
The Old have been paying into the system for a lot longer than the young. So it’s the Old subsidiseing the health care of the young. Maybe they should adpot your attitude and demand that they are looked after first then at the end of the year what evers left over can be spent on the young.
Francis… I have to disagree. The old received INSURANCE cover for their payments over the years, so as such they a service for their payment. Older people get cheaper car insurance than the young too, as they are seen as less of a risk. At 44, I hardly consider myself amongst the young ( in years anyway, maybe in spirit). However, the young have mortgages, children and many more overheads that the old and as a result should not have to subsidise the older…. in my opinion
Brian… the I in PRSI stands for INSURANCE it’s the same deal titels and amounts change but the basics remain the same. Also the hospitals we’re going to wern’t built with my tax money but with the taxs of my parents genaration and indeed their parents, The schools we went to were paid for by the same generations as were any third level grants we may have got. and how many young mortgage holders have only got houses because their parents re mortgaged their house to provide the downpayment? or only have the jobs they have because our parents and their parents paid for their education? We owe those “Old” people nearly everything we have
Wrong again Francis, when a child is born and registered, the state can borrow against their future earning / tax potential, so all the borrowed money that built all the roads, hospitals etc is borrowed against future potential earnings and not past taxes…..
cutting child benefit is a mistake, but if it is to be done then i hope its done by means testing, with those who can afford it reduced seeing cuts but leaving vunerable families alone
Yes Catriona but who is more vulnerable. Go down your local pub one evening and see the “vulnerable” get smashed on their “meagre” earnings!!
Catriona, what is considered a “vulnerable family” nowadays? This government will have a cut off point, anything below and you’ll get everything and anything going, anything above and you’ll be considered well off regardless of what your outgoings are!
Are these people having a laugh? Cutting child benefit is among the worst things they can do. Burton came out and said that the wealthy could give the payment back to the state if they wanted. Then they go and cut the payment by 40 euro. No fairness in anything that these clowns do.
This will be the hardest budget yet on struggling families yet. When will people say enough is enough??
Does the government not see that cutting child benefit, which many families uses for clothing and bills, will put more strain on charities like Barnardos and SVdeP. Do they want a society where some kids grow up so poor.
Brian says ‘why should the young subsidise the health costs of the old?’ well thats what we do if we care for the elderly. would you rather euthanase (us) them so the young can get on with their lives?
don’t make it sound like old people are causing all the problems in this country. it’s called ‘sacapegoating’ and by the way the young will be old one day and they’ll be glad of any help they can get!
Do the elderly subsidise the younger peoples mortgages ? …. This is not about scapegoating anyone, rather that each should stand alone when it comes to their personal costs
‘each should stand alone’….huh! that effectively means look after yourself and don’t bother with those who are vulnerable. i detest that sort of thinking.
@ Margaret, I am very capable of putting words in my own mouth without you attempting to do so for me. If you can’t afford to pay the full cost of private health cover, then you get the health service. You do not get someone else to subsidise your costs………. If we had a better government who actually looked out for the interests of the Irish people, then we would not need private health insurance at all…. we have 5-7 trillion dollars worth of natural resources off the coast of Ireland and a government hellbent on giving them away for free.
So again remind me why a young couple starting out in life should have to pay more for their private health cover, so someone else can have a cheap hip replacement on their subsidised VHI ???????
may i comment here please? i am a public patient in our lousy hospital systems, i am identical twin sister of the above mentioned…tell me please how i can afford to have a better life with these conditions which have made 60yrs of utter hell for me, no, i wanted to live and no i chose it not – but yes, why should some be cast aside over others? i have been cast aside and get no health care or just touching enough to make no inroads into ‘quality of life’ here goes and watch out, one day this could be you – i have macular degeneration, cataracts, 35% hearing (both ears combined) scoliosis, raynauds, primary sjogrens syndrome, hypothyroidism, ceoliac, crohns (surgery also), deformed feet, ankles, achilles and calf muscles atrophying. i have a shortened left leg, also generalised dystonia, ataxia and parkinsonsism, plus asperger syndrome and frotal lobe atrophy, i have cognitive decline and brain lesions like dandruff and may have a rare form of dystrophy which is being investigated in London UK on my twin for if they know why she cannot walk then they can guarentee that they know why i cannot. so if you feel that at 57yrs old with about as little health care as you can get that we should subsidise our own health care or get off the planet then i think there is something seriously wrong with either your education or your thinking, take your pick – i didnt pick the conditions i have and i certainly didnt pic the gov. what i chose was LIFE and yearning for life, not this.
BUT IT ISN’T 12 O CLOCK YET
12 ? 9 obviously
have your say