A TOTAL of 149 Donegal
claimants were awarded €3.1m in compensation from
the Injuries Board in the first half of this year,
new figures show.
The average award to Donegal claimants was €21,030
and the county figure accounted for 2.82% of all
awards made by the board in the first six months of
2013.
Its mid-year analysis saw total compensation of €118
million awarded to 5,286 claimants nationally. This
was an increase of 8.3% on the same period last
year.
Limerick, Longford, Dublin, Louth and Carlow were
the five counties with the largest number of awards
as a proportion of population compared to Kilkenny,
Roscommon, Laois, Wexford and Wicklow, with the
lowest.
The Injuries Board makes statutory personal injury
awards in respect of motor, employer and public
liability accidents.
Injuries Board ceo, Patrica Byron said: “Given the
link between claims volumes and insurance premiums,
the Injuries Board monitors claims volumes very
closely. Despite double digit increases in the first
half of 2013, claims volumes slowed in the third
quarter and a continuation of that trend could see
full year volume increases being pared back to about
5% - on par with prior years. On this basis and
given a 30% reduction in the Board’s processing fee
to respondents (mainly insurers), we see no basis
for insurance premium hikes at this time."
Road traffic accidents continued to account for the
majority of personal injury claims and represented
over three quarters (75.5%) of awards. 16.4% of
awards were for accidents in public places with 8.1%
related to workplace accidents.
The self-funding Injuries Board made its highest
ever compensation award of €976,000 at a delivery
cost of €6,000. The boards said this compared to an
average litigation cost of €536,000, representing a
saving of €530,000. |
