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

In terms of things not being done, when I was before the committee before Christmas 2016, I said we were not coming at this from a standing start. Work was already under way, for example, preparing to strengthen the powers of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. That work had commenced last year. The book of quantum was published in October, I think. They were working on the new book of quantum even while the working group was set up in July and the committee was entering into its hearings in September when I first appeared. They were working to update the book of quantum at that time. Work had already begun around the national vehicle driver file and the single passport for drivers. It is not that nothing was being done. It was a question of co-ordinating some existing actions and working them to a stricter timeline while introducing the new reforms identified by the committee and by our working group around things like a national claims information database or the need to set up a personal injuries commission. What is good about this plan is that it has tied it all together in a comprehensive manner and we can see what body is responsible for which action. That would have been identified by some of the stakeholders that appeared at the committee. Previously, the committee would have had to pull in representatives from every Department to try to get answers.