The acceptance and normalisation of insurance fraud in Ireland is encouraging increased incidents of exaggerated claims and providing “an income supplement to the morally challenged”, the head of claims at the State’s largest public sector insurer said on Tuesday. Michael Whelehan, head of claims at the IPB Insurance, the State insurer of public bodies, councils and the HSE, told a conference organised by Insurance Ireland that courts must not only throw out exaggerated claims, but impose costs and prison sentences on fraudsters. Insurance fraudsters in Ireland are “walking free from courts effectively with the message to spin the wheel again”, he saidThe Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 provides for up to 10 years in prison for those convicted of insurance fraud and the courts should be provided with whatever resources they need to tackle this growing problem in the State, which is seen as a “one-way bet” for many, he said. “All I ask – and we as a society should demand – is that on the roulette wheel we can expect the existing law to be implemented with vigour,” said Mr Whelehan. Local services will be constrained, leisure and amenities curtailed, funds diverted, and we will continue to fund the making of insurance claims and exaggerated insurance claims as an income supplement to the morally challenged.”

Source: The Irish Times November 19, 2019 12:00 UTC