Chapter 4 of 9: What an injury is worth: The figures register
The Board's figures, and what each route costs
Checked 14 October 2026against the Board's annual and award-values reports and the Central Bank's National Claims Information Database.
Everything the Board publishes about its awards, by year and half-year, and the Central Bank's figures on what a motor injury claim costs and how long it takes by route. Averages and medians across thousands of claims: a record, not a prediction of any case. Nothing here is an individual award beyond what the Board itself reports.
The Board, by year
| Year | Applications | Awards | Median award | Average award | Highest award | Accepted | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20,077-4% on the year before | 10,032worth €213,000,000 | €14,020€12,000 excluding special damages | €20,559 | €908,000road traffic | 47%mediation agreed 54% | Injuries Resolution Board: Annual Report 2025 and Award Values Report July to December 2025 (press release, 8 July 2026)Official record · to be confirmed against the report |
| 2024 | not published | not published | €13,100€12,000 excluding special damages | not published | not published | 50%mediation agreed 50% | Irish Legal News on the Board's Annual Report 2024 (July 2025)Press report · to be confirmed against the report |
| 2020 | not published | not published | €18,459 | not published | not published | not published | Injuries Resolution Board: Annual Report 2025 press release (the 2020 median as the pre-Guidelines comparator)Official record |
- 2025: Applications, awards, the total, the median, the acceptance and consent rates, the mediation figures and the savings are from the Board's own release. The average award and the highest award's category are from the Law Society Gazette's and the Irish Times' reports of the Annual Report (8 July 2026); the release itself says the highest award exceeded €900,000. Psychological injury featured in 15% of awards; 74% were minor injuries; 9% were over €50,000. The Board claimed €88,000,000 in savings against litigation.
- 2024: The 2024 median and the 2024 mediation agreement rate are given in the Board's 2025 release as comparators; the 50% acceptance rate (up from 48% in 2023) is from Irish Legal News' report of the 2024 Annual Report; the 2024 savings figure is the 2025 figure less the €12 million increase the Board reported. The Board claimed €76,000,000 in savings against litigation.
- 2020: The last full year under the Book of Quantum: the Board's 2025 release gives it as the comparator for the 24% fall in the median since the Guidelines.
The Board, by half-year and liability category
| Period | Median award | Motor | Public liability | Employer liability | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July to December 2025 | €14,1702019: €18,422 | €12,850from €12,510 | €14,118from €13,858 | median up 27% | Injuries Resolution Board: Award Values Report July to December 2025 (press release, 8 July 2026) |
What a motor injury claim costs by route, the Central Bank’s figures
| Period | Settled directly | Through the Board | Litigated | Of which legal costs | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January to June 2025 | €14,233 | €22,658 | €66,1004.7 years on average | €26,752 | Irish Examiner on the Central Bank's National Claims Information Database private motor figures for the first half of 2025to be confirmed against the Central Bank’s report |
- 2024, how claims were settled: 16% through the Board (about 2.7 years), 36% through litigation (about 5 years). Share of motor injury claims settled through the Board and through litigation in 2024, and the average time to settle by channel, from the Central Bank's seventh private motor report. Central Bank of Ireland: National Claims Information Database, private motor insurance report (31 October 2025)
How to read these
A median is the middle award: half were lower, half higher. An average is pulled up by the few very large awards. Neither is what any injury is worth: the Guidelines give a bracket for the injury, and the Board or a court places it. The injury checker shows the bracket with the median as a tick for context. The Board’s figures explained