Independent Senator Ronan Mullen plans to end the risk-free injuries assessment roulette wheel where lying carries no penalty.
He will move a Bill next week in the Seanad to end the gap where individuals who provide false information to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board do not suffer penalties.
PIAB was established in 2003 to try to divert personal injuries claims away from the courts, reduce legal costs and relieve upward pressure on premiums.
Mr Mullen said: ‘In 2019, a total of 31,500 applications were made to the board and 11,500 awards were made. Approximately 20,000 applications were rejected by PIAB each year for the past several years as being unmeritorious for whatever reason and deserving of no damages.
‘Therefore PIAB rejects well over 60% of all applications each year.
‘Nobody is suggesting all these rejected applications were false or misleading because there can be many factors involved in the rejection of a claim but, given the sheer number of rejected claims, it is difficult to believe all of them were based on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
‘Since personal injuries actions are regularly rejected by the courts based on false and misleading evidence, there is a likelihood that a substantial proportion of claims rejected were based on allegations that were shown to be false or not wholly true.’
Mr Mullen’s Bill will ensure it will be an offence ‘for a claimant to knowingly or recklessly provide information which is false or...
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