A further payment of €1.78 million out of the State’s Insurance Compensation Fund concerning personal injury claims against collapsed Maltese-registered motor insurer Setanta has been approved by the High Court.
The payment approval was sought on Monday by Andrew Walker SC, for the State Claims Agency.
This is the eleventh such application in respect of Setanta since 2016.
High Court President Ms Justice Mary Irvine approved the pay-out.
Last year the High Court approved a total of €5.39 million to be paid out of the State’s Compensation Fund.
In 2020, the court approved an €8.35 million payment, including €3.14 million for legal costs concerning 161 personal injury claims. Those legal costs were a combination of fees relating to claims pre-liquidation and costs taxed or agreed pre-liquidation for agreed claims.
Setanta, incorporated in Malta, carried on business here from 2007 and had 75,000 policyholders here when it collapsed in 2014. Paul Mercieca was appointed liquidator.
Setanta made a total of €7.2 million in contributions to the Insurance Compensation Fund from 2007. As a result of a Supreme Court decision in 2017 that the Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland was not liable for some of the Setanta claims, these are to be dealt with by way of access to the fund.
At the time of the seventh payment in June, 2020, the court was told the fund then had a balance of €80.2 million.