The cost of setting up a Personal Injuries Assessment Board could be almost £30 million (€37.8 million), according to yet another report on the controversial proposal. It is the third report offering costings on this proposal, first mooted by the last government in March last year and part of the Programme for Government of this one.
This report was prepared by an accountant, Mr Des Peelo, for the Law Society. The society has said it favours improving the personal injuries compensation system, provided what is proposed is both fair and economically sensible.
Mr Peelo's report was written last October, before the report of the implementation board on the PIAB, prepared by a group of civil servants under the chairmanship of Mr Frank Cunneen, was completed.
That report, completed in June and quoted in The Irish Times last Monday, concluded that the board would cost between €8 and €9 million to run, with €2 million establishment costs.
A report from an economist, Dr Peter Bacon, commissioned by the Bar Council, also warned that the PIAB could cost more than it would save, as all cases could be appealed to the courts and were likely to be if the awards it granted were not greater than those available in court.
Mr Peelo's projected costs are the highest yet and are based on a projected staff of 305. He also calculated that the proposed PIAB would require expert assistance in the processing of claims.
Based on the use of experts in existing court cases, he calculated that this would cost over £9 million.
However, Mr Peelo also built into his calculations the loss of productivity of court staff as work was taken out of the court system and diverted into the PIAB.
His report is based on all personal injuries cases going to the PIAB. The proposal from the implementation group, widely accepted, is that only cases where liability is not an issue would go to it for assessment.
Mr Peelo acknowledged this, but said this was not clear when he wrote the report last year. He added that there were no proper statistics then on the whole personal injuries area, although some had emerged since in the report of the Motor Insurance Advisory Board.
The report has been sent to the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance.