It has been revealed that the number of compensation cases that have come before the state body that processes claims has eased for the first time in five years.

Chief Executive of the Injuries Board, Patricia Byron, has said that the quantity of compensation proceedings that they had dealt with over the last year had begun to level off. She believes that this trend should take some pressure off the Motor Insurance industry, which has been forced to raise insurance premiums by 15 per cent recently, justifying the rises on motor accident claims that have risen by 24 per cent.

All personal injury claims in Ireland must be handled by the Injuries Board, except for medical negligence cases, and this had seen compensation claims steadily build up since the board was first established in 2004.

However, there are now signs that this rise is beginning to ease, with the Injuries Board Chief Executive saying, “The number of awards we will make this year will be in line with our 2008 output. In the first nine months of 2009, we have seen a modest increase of less than 4 per cent in the volume of new claims. It is probably a reflection of the current economic climate with workplace accident claims in this period being down 3 per cent on the same period last year. Motor and public liability claims are up by 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.”

The Injuries Board, who deals mostly with motor accidents, said that they had seen an increase of just 6 per cent in motor injury claims, with 4,402 people receiving payouts, compared to 8,845 during 2008.

Figures show that in the first six months of 2009, €105 million had been paid out in personal injuries claims by the board, compared to €217 million during the whole of 2008. The lowest award during this period was €1,000 with the highest payout being €493,902.

The Injuries Board believe that they are on track to deliver a total cost saving for the year of over €100 million.