Mr. Donall O'Keeffe:

In the past couple of months we met Insurance Ireland, the three largest insurance companies and some of the largest brokers in Dublin. The insurance companies' perspective is that claims are always considered on case by case basis. They are very concerned that the outcome of a court case is uncertain. Average wards can be extraordinarily high. They take the view, rightly or wrongly, that it is better to settle and have a defined outcome with which they can rather than take the risk of going to court. Our concerns are the same as those expressed by Mr. Cribben and the Brokers Federation of Ireland.

Let me make a couple of other points. There are significant costs involved in preparing a defence, including the time of the owner and management, in seeking legal advice, preparing the file, talking to staff and taking witness statements, all of which can be for naught. Usually, when a publican goes to that much trouble, it is because he or she genuinely believes he or she has a defendable case, only to discover, typically within the week of the court hearing after the case has rumbled on for two years, that it has been settled without discussion with him or her and his or her views being taken into account. It is extremely frustrating.