Mr. Ger Deering:

The first thing to say is that it is arrived at from a court rule rather than the enabling legislation, but that is neither here nor there. The other thing is that the court has discretion to extend the time allowed, but not everyone would realise it. We would accept that 21 days is very short, particularly at certain times of the year when courts are not sitting or people are away on leave, etc. My understanding is that the legislation could provide for, say, 60 days and that the court rules would be amended to reflect that. In particular, I would accept that 21 days is especially short for a consumer. The provider knows, when it gets the finding, what it has to do, how the system works and that there is a time period of 21 days to appeal. The consumer, generally, is getting a finding or a decision for the first time. As Deputy Doherty rightly stated, by the time he or she has consulted someone, 21 days would be very short. We would therefore be happy to see the time allowed extended.