It would appear that the long running Setanta Insurance saga is coming to an end with the recent passing of the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2018.
This legislation implements the recommendations of a previous review of motor insurance compensation in Ireland in 2016. That review was triggered following the failure of Setanta Insurance, a Maltese company in 2014 and the massive uncertainty that followed it over compensation arrangements for people affected by the liquidation of that company.
People injured by policyholders of Setanta insurance were going to be left with a large shortfall in their compensation as the guarantee scheme, the Insurance Compensation Fund (ICF) only covered 65% of a claim.
Moloney Solicitors have acted on behalf of road traffic injury victims where the defendants who were responsible for their injuries were insured by Setanta Insurance. In these cases it was decided by the Supreme Court that the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland (MIBI) which is an insurance guarantee scheme did not have to guarantee any shortfall in compensation that was due to injury victims arising from the liquidation of Setanta Insurance.
Speaking about the introduction of this new Act Liam Moloney Solicitor said today “it is to the credit of the Fine Gael led government that they acted promptly to deal with the fall-out from the Setanta Insurance liquidation. This new legislation provides for the payment for personal injury claims in full and to a maximum of £1.22 million for injury to property in the case of third party/motor insurance claims. This brings it into line with the current amounts paid by the MIBI where a driver is unidentified or uninsured.
