The Judicial Council’s personal injuries guidelines committee has drafted the first proposed update to the personal injuries guidelines since they came into force in 2021.

If approved, the revised guidelines will see the award of general damages for the most devastating and catastrophic of injuries rise from €550,00 to €642,000.

The increase is based on the cumulative change in the harmonised index of consumer prices (HICP) since the first edition of the guidelines was adopted.

Economic consultants told the committee that this was the “most appropriate index to adopt”, rather than the consumer price index (CPI), which is slightly higher — around 18.5 per cent over the same period, according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The proposed increase was 15.6 per cent when the committee submitted its proposals to the Board of the Judicial Council in March 2024, but was changed to 16.7 per cent by the Board to reflect the HICP rate at the time it met to consider the draft amended guidelines in October.

The draft second edition of the guidelines also includes changes to take account of various judgments of the superior courts over the past three years.

They will now be considered by the full Judicial Council at the end of January 2025.

The updated guidelines will also require the approval of the Oireachtas before coming into effect, as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Delaney v. The Personal Injuries Board & Ors [2024] IESC 10.

A process for the adoption of revised guidelines is set out in the Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024.