All personal injury claims must be made to the Injuries Resolution Board unless the claim has been settled at an early stage with the other party or the insurer directly.
For more information on our processing timelines please see our FAQs page. If your claim relates to the Garda Compensation Scheme please click here for more information.
The steps for making a claim are:
Step One
Fill out a claim application form online OR complete and send one to us by post or email
By filling in this form, you are then referred to as the Claimant.
The online form is available here and, if using post or email, the forms are available at the links below. A completed application will contain the following:
- Completed Application Form (available here)
- Our processing fee of €45 if your claim is submitted online or €90 if submitted by email or post.
- A completed medical report from your doctor (available here)
MEDIATION: We have always provided a claim assessment service and now, as part of our expanded services, the Injuries Resolution Board are now offering mediation as a alternative option for resolving Workplace Injury (Employers Liability) claims. A comprehensive document setting out how Mediation will operate is here.
You can consent to mediation in Section 7 of the application form by clicking the box on the claim application form as illustrated below:
Step Two
We will notify the Respondent of your claim (the Respondent is the person or organisation your claim is against) The Respondent, usually represented by an insurance company, then must agree to the assessment and/or mediation of your claim. Consent to the Injuries Resolution Board process by Respondent is typically quite high. This will take a maximum of 90 days. The Respondent can also consent to using our mediation service in employer liability cases and this option is available to the Respondent in our employer liability formal notice. The Respondent has the following options:
- Consent to mediation only
- Consent to assessment only
- Consent to both mediation and assessment
- Do not consent to our involvement in the claim
If both parties consent to mediation, you will then enter our mediation process where one of our experienced and independent mediators will work with you and the Respondent with the aim of facilitating an agreed outcome.
If agreement is reached, the mediator will draft a written version of anything agreed orally. This will then go to both parties to sign and return. Once signed, there is a ten-day cooling off period, during which you can change your mind. If everyone is still happy after 10 days, the agreement becomes legally binding, and we will issue an Order to Pay. This order has the same standing as a court order.
If no agreement is reached, within our mediation process, the Respondent also consented to the assessment process and the claim is suitable for assessment, then you may proceed to Step 3 of our process below.
Please note, if the Respondent does not agree to a claim being dealt with by us at all, you are issued with an authorisation to take your claim through the court system, should you so wish.
You can find more information on our mediation service here
Step Three
At this stage we may arrange for you to have an independent medical examination. The reason for this is so that we have an accurate picture of all of your injuries and the expected time of recovery. Independent medical examinations are arranged in relation to most claims.
Step Four
We will then assess the monetary value of your claim (this is called compensation) covering the compensation for pain and suffering a result of the injury.
Our organisation will ask for receipts for out-of-pocket expenses you have had and for proof of loss of earnings incurred as a result of your injury, and that is additionally included in the compensation we assess.
Step Five
You and the Respondent both receive a Notice of Assessment which sets out the compensation we have assessed for the injury. This will include the compensation for pain and suffering and for out-of-pocket expenses. The Respondent has 21 days to accept the assessment and you, the Claimant, has 28 days.
Where both parties accept the amount of compensation, our organisation issues a document called an Order to Pay, instructing the Respondent to pay the sum we have awarded. This Order to Pay has a similar status to a court order. Following that, the respondent issues a settlement cheque.
If either you or the Respondent reject the assessment by our organisation then we will issue you with an authorisation which allows you to take your claim through the court system should you so wish. If that happens, the case leaves our organisation.
The Personal Injuries Guidelines
The Personal Injuries Guidelines are published by the Judicial Council.
The Injuries Resolution Board has put together some Questions and Answers which we hope will be useful to our customers, stakeholders and visitors to our website, at this link.
In the meantime, if you have further queries as a claimant or someone a claim is against, please do contact us
Further Help
- The Rules for the Injuries Resolution Board process are available here
- If you have further queries, please refer to the frequently asked questions below or alternatively contact our Service Centre on 0818 829 121. Guidance on application forms and information on Garda Compensation are available here.
- All of the forms associated with making a claim are available here