Ms Eilis Barry:

I attended the annual Law Reform Commission conference last year and the issue of the report arose. Senator Michael McDowell spoke at the conference and in response to questions as to why the report had not been implemented - he was either Minister or Attorney General at the time - he said he was against implementing it as he saw it leading to class actions against the State. He qualified that on the basis that the banks would now be the potential defendants and it might be possible to look at it again. The possible rationale is to prevent claims being taken against the State or at least reduce claims against the State.