More than €4 billion has been awarded in compensation for personal injuries over the past two decades by the Injuries Resolution Board, with last year seeing a three per cent increase in the number of applications.
Established in 2004, the independent State body aims to resolve personal injury claims without the need for litigation.
Since then, more than 535,000 personal injury claim applications have been received, more than 179,000 of which resulted in compensation totalling more than €4 billion.
An estimated €1.2 billion in savings have been made in “avoided legal costs” over the past 20 years, according the Injuries Resolution Board.
RM Block
Some 20,837 personal injury claims were submitted in 2024, resulting in €168 million being awarded in compensation.
The number of claims submitted rose by 3 per cent from the previous year but was still 33 per cent lower than in 2019, the board’s annual report, published on Wednesday, indicates.
This 3 per cent increase was attributed to the introduction of the new Garda Compensation Scheme which added to the overall portfolio of claims the board deals with.
Under that scheme, which provides for compensation for personal injuries suffered by a current or former garda as a result of a “malicious incident”, 519 applications were received and 185 awards made by the Injuries Resolution Board.
The amount awarded in compensation overall was down 39 per cent from the €275 million awarded in 2019.
The median award stood at €13,100 in 2024, up by 12 per cent from the previous year, though 29 per cent lower than in 2020.
Motor liability accounted for 69 per cent of awards, followed by employer liability (17 per cent), public liability (13 per cent) and garda compensation (2 per cent).
The highest amount awarded last year was €634,875 while the lowest awarded was €69.
The number of motor liability claims received (12,041) increased by 4 per cent last year, continuing a gradual increase across recent years.
Some 60 fatal claim applications were submitted in relation to road traffic collisions, a 7 per cent increase from 2023 and a 20 per cent increase from 2022.
Claims for employer liability, meanwhile, decreased by 5 per cent in the same period to 3,497 while the number of public liability claims remained unchanged from 2023 at 4,780.
The number of fatal claims arising from workplace incidents, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 15, while fatal claims relating to incidents in public settings fell from 42 in 2023 to 37 in 2024.
Noting a decrease in employer liability claims and no change in the number of public liability claims, Injuries Resolution Board chief executive Rosalind Carroll described this as a “very positive trend.”
