John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Why, then, is it that when claimants come to the Injuries Board they must bear their own legal costs? If solicitors or legal representatives working through the PIAB were able to get their legal costs there as part of the settlement rather than the claimant having to pay, if it were all part of the settlement, would that not encourage them to settle through the PIAB rather than encouraging a client to go further with barristers and everything else, thereby adding substantially to the legal cost?