2025 Claims Data: Ireland’s Reforms Cut Cases, Costs Still Soar

A Mixed Verdict on Ireland’s Insurance Reforms

A raft of new data released throughout 2025 paints a complex and evolving picture of Ireland’s insurance landscape, revealing both the tangible successes and persistent challenges of the Government’s landmark Programme for Insurance Reform. While the reforms have demonstrably succeeded in curbing the volume of personal injury claims and reducing the number of cases clogging the court system, spiralling legal costs and stubborn inflationary pressures are threatening to erode these hard-won gains. Reports from the Injuries Resolution Board (IRB), the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), and the Courts Service offer a comprehensive health check on the sector, suggesting that while the patient is stabilising, a full recovery is far from guaranteed.

The headline finding from the latest data is that the torrent of personal injury claims that once defined the Irish market has slowed to a more manageable flow. The Injuries Resolution Board reported that 20,837 claims were submitted in 2024. While this marks a minor 3% increase on the previous year, it represents a dramatic 33% reduction from the pre-reform peak in 2019. This suggests that claim volumes are now stabilising in a new range of between 20,000 and 21,000 annually, a significant achievement for a programme designed to tackle the so-called ‘compo culture’. This reduction in volume is reflected in the total value of awards made by the IRB, which stood at €168 million last year – a substantial 39% lower than the 2019 figure.

The Quantum Question: A Tale of Two Damages

When delving into the value of individual awards, the data reveals a fascinating divergence. The introduction of the Personal Injuries Guidelines in 2021 was intended to reduce general damages – the compensation awarded for pain and suffering. The long-term trend confirms their impact, with a 19% decrease in average general damages valuations between 2020 and 2024. However, a slight 5% increase between 2023 and 2024 hints that these values may be finding a new floor. The average award across all claim types processed by the IRB in 2024 was €19,482.

In stark contrast, special damages, which cover quantifiable out-of-pocket expenses like medical bills and loss of earnings, have surged. The IRB notes a 31% increase in these assessments since 2020. This is a direct consequence of the broad inflationary pressures gripping the economy, pushing up the cost of everything from physiotherapy to vehicle repairs. This trend complicates the narrative of reform; while the state can legislate to control general damages, it is largely powerless against macroeconomic forces driving up the actual costs associated with an injury.

Litigation: The Achilles’ Heel of Reform

The most alarming figures emerge from the Central Bank’s National Claims Information Database (NCID), which shines a harsh light on the cost of litigation. While the reforms have successfully funnelled more claims away from the courts, cases that are litigated continue to incur disproportionately high costs, driven almost entirely by legal fees. Astonishingly, litigated claims accounted for 87% of all injury claim costs in the first half of 2024, despite representing a minority of claims.

The data shows that for these claims, legal costs now represent 43% of the total cost, or a staggering 78% of the actual compensation received by the claimant. This stands in stark contrast to claims settled directly with insurers, where legal costs are 21% of the total, and those settled via the IRB, where they are a mere 2%. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that this inflation in legal fees is one-sided. While plaintiff legal costs have continued their upward trajectory since 2019, defence costs have actually decreased by 8% over the same period. This suggests a systemic issue in the plaintiff legal cost model that is actively working against the aims of the reform programme.

There is some positive news, however. The average total cost for a litigated claim, including all fees, did decrease by 12% in the first half of 2024 to €76,715. Yet, the persistent and growing proportion of legal fees within that total remains a critical area of concern for policymakers and insurers alike.

Motor Insurance: Navigating Inflationary Headwinds

The challenges of inflation are most acutely felt in the motor insurance sector. The CBI’s 2025 Private Motor Insurance Report details a significant surge in the cost of damage claims. The average cost of a damage claim has rocketed by 116% between 2010 and 2024, now standing at €2,236. This is attributed to the rising cost of parts, labour, and courtesy cars in the high-inflation environment. Both the number of damage claims and their average cost rose sharply in 2024 compared to the previous year, by 6% and 18% respectively.

On the injury side of motor claims, the picture is more stable. The average cost of an injury claim in 2024 was €39,537, a marginal 1% increase from 2023. This relative stability is widely credited to the impact of the Personal Injuries Guidelines. While the number of injury claims settled rose by 16% last year, it remains 23% below the pre-pandemic average, indicating that fewer incidents are resulting in personal injury claims. Despite this, the combined effect of soaring damage costs and stable injury costs means the overall average cost of a motor claim has increased by 75% since 2010.

The Courts’ Verdict: A Quieter Chamber

The success of the reform programme in diverting cases away from the courts is unequivocally confirmed by the Courts Service Report for 2024. The number of new personal injury cases issued fell to 12,989, a 41% reduction from 2019 levels. This has had a direct and dramatic impact on the total damages awarded by the judiciary. The total amount awarded across all courts fell precipitously, most notably in the High Court, where damages plummeted from €256.5 million in 2023 to €135.6 million in 2024. This demonstrates a clear shift towards resolving claims through the more cost-effective IRB process, a core objective of the reforms. The data also shows an increasing willingness from respondents (insurers and businesses) to consent to the IRB process, with the consent rate rising from 55% in 2020 to 70% in 2024, further validating the Board’s enhanced role.

A Crossroads for Irish Insurance

As the dust settles, the data from 2024 and 2025 provides a clear, if multifaceted, verdict. The Government’s reforms have been successful in re-engineering the claims landscape, reducing overall volumes and court dependency. However, the mission to deliver sustainable premium reductions for consumers and businesses is being hampered by two powerful headwinds: economy-wide inflation and, more pointedly, the stubbornly high cost of legal services in litigated cases. The wealth of transparent data now available provides an undeniable evidence base for the next phase of reform. The focus must now shift to tackling the inefficiencies and disproportionate costs that persist within the litigation channel, ensuring that the benefits of reform are fully realised and passed on to the Irish public.