THE Injuries Board made 10,656 personal injury awards in 2013, an increase of 5.1% compared to 2012. According to the Board’s Annual Review, published this Tuesday, the total value of these awards was €243.5m, an increase of 11.7% on the €218m awarded in 2012.
As the number of accidents remains unchanged, this increase is attributed to a higher proportion of claims being processed through the board’s lower cost, non-adversarial process and also the delivery of a number of exceptionally high value awards by the Board.
With 275 awards, Clare accounted for the sixth highest number of personal injury awards on a per head of population basis in 2013. The average award in Clare was €28,747 and total compensation for the county amounted to €7.9m.
The Board assesses personal injury claims and makes awards relating to motor, employer and public liability accidents, without the need for litigation. The review shows that the board’s non-adversarial model has delivered direct savings of over €72m in 2013, relative to the prior litigation model.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.