The former president of the Law Society, Stuart Gilhooly, said a proposed new perjury bill would not be effective in curbing fraudulent and misleading personal injury claims. 

Speaking on RTÉRadio One’s Today with Sean O’Rourke programme, he told presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, “It won’t add anything to the prosecution of false and exaggerated claims.”

He said he welcomed the proposed bill, but as regards insurance-claims fraud, he pointed out that the Civil and Liability Courts Act already covered this. However, he said the law on perjury needed to be updated.

The proposed new bill is sponsored by several senators, among them former justice minister and current senator Michael McDowell. The new bill would allow for those convicted of perjury to be jailed for up to seven years.

Unlike the UK, Ireland does not have a modern statute-based offence of perjury. There are two laws on the statute book that mention perjury, dating from 1586 and 1729. There was a Perjury Act passed by the British Parliament in 1911, but this was never enacted here after independence.