Mr. Ken Murphy:

I thank the Chairman. I entirely agree that the answers to the members' questions are very much inherent in the questions. With regard to care not cash, I understand the political sponsor of the idea, Mr. Osborne, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, is no longer in office, so it remains to be seen whether it will happen. It is not in place yet so nobody can say what the effect of it will be. It seems to us to be deeply troubling and a disturbing proposition from the point of view of the compensation of victims of injuries. With the greatest of respect to this committee, which is clearly striving to hear all voices, and I absolutely accept the bona fides of the committee seeking to hear all voices on this issue, I wonder if it is hearing the voices of accident victims. No organised lobby, or no powerful industry lobby, is prepared to appear before the committee to talk on behalf of the people who have suffered sometimes life altering injuries and certainly pain and suffering, the consequences of accidents caused by the negligence of others. They have no voice and it seems to us that they are vulnerable individuals with no corporate or collective clout. Their solicitor becomes their voice and their guide through the process.

The Law Society of Ireland has a concern. I was present in the RTE studio last night when Ms Dorothea Dowling, who is something of a guru in this area, raised the question as to whether the insurance industry should be dictating the solutions to this problem. In any case, it seems to us that the insurance industry has caused this problem. The changes that have occurred and resulted in the enormous increases in premiums over the last couple of years originate with matters internal to the insurance industry, not internal to the courts, the Injuries Board or the compensation system.

A perfectly reasonable question regarding the European Commission's expression of concern about advertising regulations for the legal profession in Ireland was raised. I was rather taken aback when I first heard about that because the Law Society of Ireland has not been in any way notified about this. This seems to be in play - to use a loose phrase - between the Department of Justice and Equality, the State and the European Commission. The Law Society of Ireland has not been put on any notice of this and we do not know any detail on it. I can say from general knowledge of advertising regimes in the EU generally that the one in Ireland is quite liberal and quite permissive. The changes to restrict advertising in respect of personal injuries were put in place to reflect the will of the Oireachtas in the Solicitors (Amendment) 2002 Act.

At the time or up to then it was considered that legal advertising was, in fact, encouraging the bringing of personal injury litigation and that this was contrary to public policy. That may be the issue between the State and the European Commission, but I can genuinely tell the committee that those of us in the Law Society of Ireland do not know. We have seen no documentation on the matter.