Lawyers will co-operate on changes
MICHAEL McDowell insists that he is loath to engage in lawyer bashing, and not just because he is one himself by trade.
But three months after promising a major onslaught on Ireland's compensation culture, the justice minister is also keen to show that some progress has been achieved and that some big changes are just around the corner. He also says he believes that the bulk of solicitors will in fact collaborate with Government efforts to bring about change.
"The legal professionals, and in this I would include the judiciary, operate in the real world. Yes, solicitors and barristers know they can make a lot of money from compensation cases. But they also know that, ultimately, a prosperous Ireland also means a prosperous legal profession," he said.
The minister said he totally accepts employers' warnings that insurance costs, largely fuelled by some outrageous compensation costs, are now a major threat to the country's ability to compete in the world market.
"Insurance costs are rapidly replacing the tax wedge as a penal charge on Irish business. But in this case the money does not even go to the Government coffers," he said.
He also argues that many business operators have been co-operating with the Health & Safety Authority at some cost to themselves and are entitled to some pay-back in lower insurance costs. But currently the exact opposite is the case.
The major onus in effecting change lies on himself as the new justice minister in collaboration with Progressive Democrat leader and Enterprise Minister Mary Harney. The other main operator is Transport Minister Seamus Brennan who is responsible for things such as penalty points for drivers promised for late October and better driver training and education.
The justice minister points out that Ms Harney is already well advanced in preparations for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB). This would deal with all injury claims initially, although claimants or insurers could go on to appeal to the courts in cases where they were not satisfied.
Mr McDowell insists that, contrary to early claims by lawyers, this is about delivering a remedy to injured parties quickly and cheaply. "It is about cutting the cost of delivering fair compensation," he said.
Interestingly, the lawyers' opposition has mellowed considerably. The chief executive of the solicitors' Law Society of Ireland, Ken Murphy, said the establishment of the PIAB is now inevitable. But Mr Murphy, writing in the current edition of the Law Society Gazette, warns that the Government must ensure insurance companies do not end up pocketing any resultant cut in claim processing costs.
A Department of Enterprise spokesman said work is continuing on this and the implementation of other recommendations made by the Motor Insurance Advisory Board earlier this summer.
But more immediately, the justice minister says he is close to finalising a ban on solicitors advertising a no-foal-no-fee service which allows compensation claimants to pay nothing unless they win their case.
Negotiations with the Law Society are advanced and could be finalised as early as November.
The Justice Department says the matter will be concluded by year's end at latest. The minister says that allowing solicitors to advertise had not cut the cost of services to the public it had merely resulted in more litigation.
But Mr McDowell says other tougher measures are at an advanced stage of planning.
These include obliging people making serious compensation claims to swear an affidavit. This would mean that once a bogus claim was detected it would be swiftly followed by a perjury prosecution. At present perjury proceedings are difficult and complex in such instances.
The minister said he is also determined to change the law to ensure the claims found to involve an element of exaggeration are totally ruled out. Currently, many such exaggerations merely result in a reduced award.
"These are long-standing views of my own. We have arrived at a situation where people say: 'We'll give it a good lash. If we lose or have our claim reduced so what?'" he said.
The justice minister says that these changes are likely to require considerable legislation and the Government must decide whether this should be done through a big compensation law or whether it would be better to adjust existing legislation. But he stresses that it is all a priority for early action.
Mr McDowell also argues that he does not want the growing media coverage of the compensation/insurance issue to lose sight of one fundamental point. "People who suffer injury and/or loss due to negligence by those who had a duty of care are entitled to fair compensation.
"That will not change nor should it," he said.
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