Musgrave calls on Government to fast-track insurance reform; Electrical waste recycling grows

Musgrave calls on Government to fast-track insurance reform

MUSGRAVE has called on the Government to fast track a suite of measures required to tackle high insurance costs in Ireland in the wake of the recent vote by Ireland’s Judicial Council to adopt new guidelines for personal injury claims that aim to reduce the size of awards for minor injuries and encourage early settlements. “Saturday’s report from the Judicial Council will have to be examined in detail by the many retailers who have borne the brunt of rising insurance premiums in recent years,” noted a Musgrave spokesperson. “It may take some time before we see if the new guidelines bring Ireland in line with the level of general damages in other countries. “However, what’s most important now is that the Government speeds up the implementation of this report, along with other initiatives such as enhancing the role of the PIAB, rebalancing the duty of care, and reducing fraudulent and exaggerated claims.” Musgrave also called for action on increasing competition in the Irish market, where the company spokesperson maintained there are too few companies offering cover and too many barriers to new entrants. “Despite many reports in recent years, reforms to date have not delivered cuts in liability insurance premiums,” the spokesperson concluded. “For thousands of companies involved in retail and food service, this is a crippling cost which can, and must, be reduced.” Meanwhile, the Alliance for Insurance Reform reacted with dismay to the new Personal Injuries Guidelines published by the Judicial Council. “Getting insurance costs down means cutting the general damages paid out for minor, fully recovered injuries to reflect international norms and norms already established by the Court of Appeal,” said Peter Boland, Director of the Alliance. “It would have taken reductions of 80% to the damages handed out for such injuries in order to do so. In advance of the adoption of these guidelines, we called on the judiciary to have regard to the common good in their deliberations but they have ignored this plea and we are dismayed at what they are now proposing.” The Alliance has written to An Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, in his role as Chair of the Cabinet Committee Sub-Group on Insurance Reform, asking Government to “intervene immediately, take control of the situation and cap general damages such that damages for minor injuries are reduced by an average of 80% compared to the previous Book of Quantum guidelines”. Eoin McCambridge, Managing Director of McCambridge’s of Galway and Director of the Alliance for Insurance Reform, said, “The single biggest element of the cost of insurance, as determined by the Cost of Insurance Working Group, the Personal Injuries Commission and the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database, is compensation; and general damages for minor injuries account for the vast majority of compensation payouts. What we award for minor, fully recovered injuries in Ireland is 4.4 times higher than in England & Wales and further multiples higher than other European jurisdictions. An 80% reduction on minor injuries would only bring us down to where England and Wales currently are and would still be nowhere near the equivalent damages in other European countries.”

Electrical waste recycling grows

THE amount of electrical waste recycled at local authority centres rose by 10% last year – the equivalent of half a million small appliances, new data from WEEE Ireland shows. But the 5km travel restriction is being partly blamed for a spike in electrical items dumped in general waste bins last month, fuelling a 7% decrease in electrical recycling compared with January 2020. “Irish people’s behaviours and attitudes are improving towards the recycling of e-waste, and we welcome the 10% overall increase in recycling at civic amenity sites in 2020,” said CEO of WEEE Ireland, Leo Donovan. “Unfortunately, in January, we saw a reverse in that behaviour and we would ask people to seriously consider the danger and environmental impact of getting rid of e-waste in household bins. We need people to support a transition towards a more circular economy, which aims to keep Leo Donovan, CEO, WEEE Ireland. our resources in circulation for longer.” WEEE Ireland, which is the country’s largest e-waste recycling scheme, warns that small items containing batteries can be dangerous to dispose of in general waste and that the valuable raw materials ending up in landfill sites can never be recovered for re-use. It cautioned that for Ireland to comply with EU targets, e-waste recycling should have increased by over 10% on last year’s tonnages to keep pace with the growing volume of electrical appliances entering the Irish market every year. “We would encourage people during the current level 5 restrictions to use this time to gather up any end-of-life electrical items and waste batteries in their homes and once restrictions are lifted, to take them to their local authority recycling centre, electrical retail shop or hardware store,” said Donovan.