Jobs are under threat if insurance costs continue to rise at their current pace according to the Alliance for Insurance Reform (AIR), an employers’ group representing some 400 businesses in Ireland.
Speaking in Dublin today, the group’s chairman Mr Pat McDonagh, owner of the Supermacs fast food chain, said that Irish business could not sustain the cost of escalating insurance premiums.
Mr McDonagh said the aim of the AIR was "to reduce business insurance costs through ensuring there is the political will to force reassessment of both the legal system and of the insurance industry".
Among the AIR's demands are the immediate operation of the Personal Injury Assessment Board, the pursuit and jailing fraudulent claimants and the creation of an independent panel to assess awards in the lower courts.
The AIR also stated it would lobby against compulsory employer's liability. "Should employer liability be made compulsory the reserves held by insurance companies will be targeted as another feeding trough for spurious claims and high legal fees. Responsibility for this area must be left with employers," it said.