New Government Action Plan on Insurance: Personal Injury Claims in Focus

On 24 July 2025, the Irish Government launched its Action Plan for Insurance Reform 2025-2029 (Action Plan). It sets out a range of priorities with the stated aim of ensuring the sustainability and competitiveness of the Irish insurance market and lowering insurance premiums. It follows on from the 2020 Action Plan for Insurance Reform.

Key themes of the Action Plan include transparency and affordability, competitiveness and availability and legal reform.

Priority Actions

The Action Plan sets out 26 actions, 10 of which have been designated as priorities, along with timelines and the body responsible for implementation. These priority actions, insofar as they relate to personal injury claims, include:

• Strengthening the powers and remit of the Injuries Resolution Board (Board). Proposals for consideration include default mediations, remittance of claims back to the Board if new evidence, including medical reports, are presented in litigation and the award of legal fees for claims resolved through the Board. Quarter 2 2027 is the timeframe provided with responsibility lying with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and the Board.

• Research into acceptance rates for Board awards with a view to informing policy to support increased acceptance levels.

• Enhancing Board research and publication functions to better inform the relevant stakeholders in respect of changes to the Personal Injuries Guidelines (Guidelines).

• Conducting a benchmarking exercise to examine levels of Irish personal injury awards as compared to the UK and other European jurisdictions. The aim of such an exercise is to determine if the Guidelines have enabled consistency in the awarding of general damages and to consider the implications for competitiveness.

• Considering the application of a scale of fees for civil litigation, particularly personal injuries, with the aim of promoting transparency, competitiveness, and fairness in legal costs. The Action Plan aims to consider and make a recommendation to government on this issue by Quarter 4 2026 and develop guidelines by Quarter 4 2027.

• Amending the Judicial Council Act 2019 to adjust the review period and criteria for the Guidelines, providing for mandatory consultation with the Board and providing clarity on Oireachtas oversight and timeframes for the future revisions of the Guidelines. The timeframe for this action point is Quarter 1 2026.

Other Actions

While not listed as a priority, the Action Plan also includes an examination of the level of awards for minor and moderate personal injuries to consider the feasibility of introducing a cap for certain categories and the introduction of a model for the resolution of minor soft tissue injuries.

It also intends to progress actions from the 2020 Action Plan, including the introduction of regulations in respect of:

• pre-action protocols for personal injuries, commencing with clinical negligence;

• discount rates for future financial loss and cost of care; and

• periodic payment indexation rate to facilitate the practice of settling catastrophic injury cases by way of periodic payment orders.

The Action Plan seeks to progress by Quarter 3 2026 recommendations in the Kelly Report, including legislating for pre-action protocols other than clinical negligence and legislating for case conduct principles which aim to ensure that proceedings are conducted in a manner which is just, expeditious and likely to minimise the costs of those proceedings.

Conclusion

The Action Plan identifies issues key to the personal injury claims landscape that under these proposals will be considered for future reform. Of particular note are proposals in respect of a cap for certain categories of minor / moderate personal injuries and an amendment of the Judicial Council Act 2019 to adjust the review period  and criteria for the Guidelines. This is particularly pertinent at the moment in light of the status of the draft amended Guidelines published by the Judicial  Council last December (see our most recent article in this regard here). Progress in terms of detail and implementation of the Action Plan proposals will be keenly awaited.