WITH the latest figures from the Personal Injuries Board (PIB) confirming that Limerick ranked third in the country for public liability insurance claims, calls have been made for the establishment of an insurance claims register to identify fraudsters.
CFM Insurance group managing director Jonathan Hehir said that of the 8,906 public liability claims made in 2015, 170 of them came from Limerick which gave it the third highest number of claimants.
Calling on Financial Services Minister Eoghan Murphy to speed up the establishment of the insurance claims register to identify what he described as ‘trip and trick claimants” and other professional fraudsters, Mr Hehir said this would go a long way to curbing the activities of “professional insurance claimants who are making a substantial living from falsifying multiple claims”.
“There is a relatively small, but very active and dangerous cohort of people who falsify insurance claims. This has the knock-on effect of putting upward pressure on insurance premiums as insurers endeavour to recoup the losses made on the back of these pay-outs. This, in turn, is having a devastating effect on some small Irish businesses as they can no longer afford their commercial insurance and public liability premiums. So too is the financial burden borne by Irish motorists who have seen their premiums soar massively in the last 18-24months.”
Referring to the Limerick figures, Mr Hehir said that while most of these would be genuine cases but if even a fraction were false, then several local businesses were suffering the consequences. A confidential register would allow insurance claims managers cross-reference the names and addresses of any individual that they suspect might be a serial offender.
“The idea is still in its infancy but the issue is so serious, it needs to happen. Claimant’s entitlements to privacy should not be affected as we would advocate that the register only be made available to the claims managers in insurance companies, and possibly the Irish Courts. It would create a more transparent system by which insurers could filter out the small but active cohort of pseudo claimants,” Mr Hehir explained.
Furthermore, businesses and motorists are being plagued by a high number of claims from a relatively small number of reoffending serial claimants who are systematically claiming for false injury or false liable.
“These people hide behind the law which protects their anonymity and ensures that they have the freedom to make multiple claims without insurers or courts being aware of their previous similar activity.
“While some commentators may cry foul of the establishment of this register, and while we acknowledge that there are many honest people making insurance claims, we cannot let the rights of the minority rules over the rights of the majority – and the many honest policy holders out there should not have to pay for the activities of the dishonest few,” he added.
