Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely, Chairman. Let us say that were we to decide that from the beginning of 2018 we were going to do that and that insurance companies saw an upfront cost of €24 million, the solicitors might still decide to test the case in the courts so that in the years 2018 and 2019, one might have additional costs for the insurance company and therefore the consumers while solicitors are still charging in the courts, so the insurance company is still reserving for an ever higher award potentially. One will not have seen what one had hoped to see and that would take a period of between five and ten years to see that change come about. In a shorter period, given the time coming up for the personal injuries commission and the review of the book of quantum, if we can bring greater consistency there, then there will no longer be an incentive to not take the PIAB award. Even if people fall out of the PIAB process, because we are going to put in place pre-action protocols, they will go into that instead or if we can do it, we will find a new mechanism whereby they cannot establish their PIAB application as a brand new case in the courts. All that brings additional costs, additional time and additional reserving by the insurance companies. That is, I think, a better way to go about it, without risking - and I think it is a risk - an inflationary element at this point when we are actually trying to calm prices.