The Government continues to address Insurance Reform in Ireland and has now published its latest Action Plan, covering the period 2025–2029. Building on what the Government will portray as the success of the previous plan, this new programme sets out targeted legal reforms aimed at strengthening the role of the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB), continuing to monitor personal injury awards, and introducing greater structure and transparency in legal costs.
The plan comes barely a fortnight after Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan bowed to pressure on a plan by the Judicial Council to hike personal injury award guidelines by almost 17 per cent, confirming that he will not ask the Oireachtas to rubber stamp the judiciary’s proposed tweak to payouts.
According to Minister of State Robert Troy, “Insurance is a cornerstone of a well-functioning economy. This Action Plan is about levelling the playing field and restoring confidence for consumers and businesses alike.”
While this announcement signals a continuation of reform efforts, it also highlights renewed focus on legal costs and the IRB’s evolving remit, prompting varied responses.
Overview of the 2025–2029 Action Plan for Insurance Reform in Ireland
The Action Plan outlines a series of measures staged over 2026 and 2027, including:
Measures Planned for 2026
-
Benchmarking Irish Personal Injury Awards
A comparative exercise will benchmark Irish personal injury awards against those in the UK and other European jurisdictions to ensure consistency and fairness. -
Amendments to the Judicial Council Act 2019
These amendments will adjust the review cycle of the Personal Injuries Guidelines (PIGs), mandate consultation between the Judicial Council and the IRB, and clarify the Oireachtas’s role in future guideline reviews. -
Research into IRB Award Acceptance Rates
The Government will examine why some IRB awards are rejected by claimants to inform future policy. -
Examination of Award Caps
The feasibility of introducing caps on awards for certain minor or moderate injuries will be explored. -
Development of a Model for Minor Soft Tissue Injuries
Consideration will be given to a dedicated resolution process for these common claims.
Measures Planned for 2027
-
Strengthening the IRB’s Powers and Remit
The plan proposes making mediation the default resolution process, remitting claims back to the IRB when new evidence arises (though the practicality of this remains to be seen where medical evidence from both Claimant and Defence often evolves as cases progress, and repeatedly returning claims to the Board could cause procedural delays), and allowing legal fees to be awarded in IRB-resolved claims. -
Developing New Guidelines for Legal Fees
The Government intends to set clear rates and scales for legal fees in civil litigation, particularly personal injury cases – akin to the County Court Scale used in Northern Ireland Personal Injury Cases.
Legal Costs: The Final Frontier in Insurance Reform in Ireland
The renewed focus on legal costs reflects their status as the last major variable yet to be comprehensively addressed. Over the past four to five years, inflation in party-party legal costs has been substantial, as affirmed by decisions of County Registrars and the Legal Costs Adjudicator.
Insurers view these escalating legal fees as an urgent problem to be tackled. Once general damages were controlled through the Judicial Guidelines, it became inevitable that attention would shift to these escalating costs. The proposed reforms to legal fee structures and transparency are intended to reduce unpredictability and overall claims expenditure.
Strengthening the Injuries Resolution Board: A Contested Approach
The IRB reforms are central to the Action Plan. Expanding the Board’s powers, including default mediation, remittal of claims with new evidence, and awarding legal fees for Board-resolved claims, aim to reduce litigation and improve efficiency.
Responses from Claimant Advocates and Victims’ Campaigners
While the Government emphasises transparency and efficiency, victims’ campaigners warn that the reforms risk diminishing access to justice and pushing claimants toward self-representation in an increasingly complex legal system.
The main points raised are:
-
The IRB’s increasing powers, aim to reduce litigation, but it is also to steer more claimants towards self-representation in what many Claimant Advocates will say is a govenment body set up by insurers and staffed by insurers. Ultimately it fringes on jeapordising access to Justice. Data from the Irish Central Bank, they say, underscores that claimants with legal representation receive substantially higher awards than those who self-represent.
-
Benchmarking personal injury awards against UK and European standards risks a “race to the bottom” which undermines the integrity of our entire legal system by prioritising profit over justice.
-
Whilst the goal of these reforms is “a balanced, predictable, and just system – one that protects rights while enabling a sustainable and affordable insurance market” the propose introduction of a ‘cap‘ for certain categories of damages particularly in minor/moderate personal injuries, they say, is a step too far.
-
Critically, they say that the entire document refers to ‘key-stakeholders‘ repeatedly but Ireland is lacking in a unified claimant voice in policy debates, unlike advocacy groups seen in the UK such as APIL.
“The submissions highlighted recurring themes including concerns about the cost and
availability of insurance, the impact of legal fees on premiums, the challenges faced by
sectors and the need for greater transparency in pricing and claims handling. Respondents
also emphasised the importance of cultural and behavioural change, particularly in relation
to claims practices and litigation trends.”There is no input here from a unified claimant voice on the rights of the Claimants and this, say Claimant advocates, is a problem that needs addressed.
Conclusion: Balancing Cost Control and Access to Justice
The Government’s 2025–2029 Action Plan marks an important stage in Ireland’s insurance reform journey, particularly through its focus on legal costs and the IRB. While the aim of reducing insurance premiums is clear, the impact on claimants’ access to justice, compensation levels, and legal representation must be carefully monitored.
Use our online portal to discuss the future landscape of insurance in Ireland with one of our Solicitors.
