‘Advanced’ plans to set up specialist gardaí unit to fight insurance fraud

Plans to set up a specialist An Garda Síochána unit which will focus on tackling insurance fraud are at an advanced stage, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has revealed.

The unit will be paid for by insurance firms, like the Fraud Enforcement Department at the City of London Police, The Irish Times reports.

Mr Flanagan told an Insurance Ireland conference: “While this proposal is not without its challenges, I understand that talks between Insurance Ireland and the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau about the initial proposal are at an advanced stage.”

Another speaker at the annual fraud conference, former High Court president Nicholas Kearns, said he supported the initiative, blaming fraud for contributing significantly to the cost of insurance.

He also criticised a minority of lawyers who, he said, were “tainting the reputation of the legal system” by pursuing “malicious cases”.