Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I understand that. When they settle on a quantum, when they settle on a figure to pay a claimant who may have serious bodily injuries, insurance companies affiliated to Insurance Ireland reject 1,200 of the cases based on the quantum. They go to court and if they are at the higher end, they could make up in excess of 53% of the entire legal costs of all litigated claims in the courts. Let me make this point. The courts pay out, on average, the same compensation as PIAB for claims less than €100,000. It is extremely likely that what is happening here is that insurance companies are rejecting claims that are on the higher end, towards €100,000, which make up some 53% of all legal costs when they go into litigation. The real issue is that it is insurance companies that are putting this bill upon themselves and, really, upon their consumers as a result. I am fully aware the witnesses do not have any of that knowledge.