Ms Dorothea Dowling:

The recognition would mean something to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. We were set up at a time of crisis. There was an employment control framework at the time from which we were exempt and as we do not draw a cent from the Exchequer and have repaid the set-up costs of €7 million, we feel very strongly that we should not be curtailed by the employment control framework in not being able to replace people who leave for various reasons, including retirement. That just means the work must go somewhere else at a greater cost. No case has successfully been made for us to be exempted from the employment control framework. As I depart from the chair, I am aware that Ms Byron's team has performed under extreme pressure, and there is a point beyond which cost cutting does not continue to pay.