The Judicial Council Personal Injuries Guidelines ("the Guidelines") came into effect on the 21st April 2021 and replaced the Book of Quantum. Under the Judicial Act 2019, the Guidelines Committee ("the Committee") must review the Guidelines within three years of adoption and at least once every three years thereafter.
Background
Following their review in March 2024, the Committee submitted draft amended Guidelines to the Board of the Judicial Council. The Board decided to modify them, and in December 2024, the Judicial Council published draft amended Guidelines proposing an overall increase of 16.7% in personal injury award. This adjustment aimed to reflect “significant global and national inflation.” The proposed increases would see the highest award under the guidelines increased from €550,000 to €642,000. Unsurprisingly, this was met with resistance from insurers and business lobby groups.
The draft Guidelines also sought to apply principles adopted by the Superior Courts in assessing damages for cases which involve multiple injuries. The draft guidelines state the overriding consideration for the judge in all cases is proportionality. This means that the total award must be proportionate when viewed in the context of both the maximum and equivalent awards available under the Guidelines.
To arrive at a just result, the judge must step back from the categories to assess the overall impact of all the injuries on the claimant, and place them on the scale in a way that is proportionate. In most cases, achieving proportionality is likely to involve the application of a global discount to the relevant categories. The extent of the discount will vary according to the extent of the overlap of the injuries.
The Judicial Act 2019 through Section 7(2)(g) of the Judicial Council Act 2019, gave the Council power to adopt draft amendments to the Guidelines, however the Supreme Court decision in Delaney v The Personal Injuries Board & Ors [2024] IESC 10 held that section to be unconstitutional. As such, any changes to the guidelines now require the approval of the Oireachtas before coming into effect.
2025 developments
In July 2025, Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan confirmed he would not bring a resolution to the Oireachtas to approve the draft amended guidelines. That same month, the Government unveiled its Action Plan for Insurance Reform 2025 – 2026.
As part of this Action Plan, the government included as a priority the need to:
- Amend the Judicial Council Act 2019 to adjust the review period and criteria for the Guidelines
- Provide for mandatory consultation with the Board
- Provide clarity on Oireachtas oversight and timeframes for the future revisions of the Guidelines
The timeframe for this action point was noted as Quarter 1 2026.
Current position
As of today, the 2021 Guidelines remain unchanged. However, Chief Justice Donal O'Donnell recently commented on the Guidelines and stated "looking at this purely from a practical and pragmatic point of view, it is simply counterproductive to seek to prevent the revision of guidelines in this system. The failure to update the guidelines will put the guidelines system itself at risk".
He then further commented that if "the Injuries Resolution Board and Courts are increasingly invited to depart from the guidelines and make higher awards reflecting the effect of inflation, the guidelines will inevitably begin to fray. Overtime they will petrify and decay"
Given the government's action plan and the position taken by some judges to depart from the guidelines and increase awards from what is outlined in the current guidelines, we are hopeful that in 2026 we may get an answer to our question, to increase or to not to increase.
