Former High Court President Nicholas Kearns has expressed serious concern about the slow pace of reform in the Irish insurance industry and believes that this is now costing jobs.

He says the failure to establish a dedicated garda unit to reduce fraud was baffling and called on insurance companies to commit to reducing premiums. Speaking at a conference organised by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, Mr Kearns said the issue of rising insurance costs and high compensation was now at crisis point. Mr Kearns also pointed out that delays in putting in place required legislation to tackle the issues were unacceptable and called on all parties to establish interim measures to tackle the problems.

He commented, “It is hardly surprising that such claims abound in a jurisdiction where compensation levels are among the highest in Europe and where the risk of detecting a fraudulent or spurious claim is small and where the risk of prosecution is virtually nil.”