Legal industry makes 'ridiculously excessive' money from insurance
26 July 2002: Irish people have more accidents, sue more frequently, compensate more generously, settle claims more slowly and pay lawyers much more than almost all other countries in the EU.
That’s the conclusion of AA Ireland research which formed the basis of that organisation’s submission to Government on the high costs of insurance in this country.
The research, by the AA’s public affairs manager Conor Faughnan, also indicates that Ireland has an insurance industry which, collectively, has been complacent about rising cost in the knowledge that these costs could simply be passed on to the consumer.
“We also have a legal industry that has been making ridiculously excessive amounts of money from liability insurance,” Faughnan adds. “This deplorable situation has been allowed to worsen steadily in the absence of any real determination on the part of legislators and government to get to grips with it. The ones who foot the bill are the ordinary motoring consumers.”
A Government-appointed committee on car insurance reported earlier this year that profits made by insurance companies in Ireland were in excess of nine times those made in Britain.
July 2002