Ms Cora O'Brien:

An assessment will be issued only when both parties have come to a point where they cannot agree on the issue. The Deputy is absolutely right. Having agreed to disagree, the only place to take it is into the appeal regime. In the initial forum, with an independent person adjudicating, it is right that it should not be aired in an open forum. I would have to be convinced of the benefits to the system versus the downside - disenfranchising people or making them unwilling to engage in going further or even beyond the first step of the assessment.