Four years of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board: Assessing its impact

Since the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) began operating in 2004, there has been considerable change and controversy injected into Ireland’s personal injury claims regime. Linked to wider measures designed to tackle a perceived runaway “compo culture” and spiralling insurance premiums,1 PIAB was specifically presented as a means of reducing the high levels of legal costs associated with negligence claims.2 Debate over the Board’s fairness and efficacy persists. Legal practitioners maintain that its lawyer-sceptical ideology is a snub to the legitimate rights of victims. As parties hold the option of retaining legal representation (albeit at their own expense) and to ultimately reject awards in favour of initiating litigation, the Board’s impact

is inherently tied to public acceptance of the new paradigm.