Mr. Peter Boland:

I thank the members for their questions. Regarding engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, we met him and his civil servants in March. We were not aware of the roadshow meeting in Galway at the start of this week. We are well aware of the one in Cork next Monday, and quite a few of our members are anxious to attend it. We have been keeping a close eye on the cost of insurance working group's updates. It has been a little dispiriting because what was a good initial report seems to have run out of steam. We did an analysis of the CIWG's latest update, which was issued quietly the Friday before last, and of the 48 actions which are ticked at this stage, 22 essentially amount to meetings or consultations. They are not actions as such; they are additional consultations. We, therefore, do not sense the urgency that is required on this issue. It is an issue now, not an issue in five years' time.

We believe the PIAB is worthy and deserves our support. It is a model for what might be done to reduce the cost of court cases in many ways but it is being undermined constantly, and we have a serious concern in this regard. For example, two new directors are to be appointed by the Minister, one of whom will be a lawyer with experience in personal injury claims, but there is no specific representative for policyholders on the board. It looks to us a little like throwing a fox into a chicken coop. That is an issue from our point of view.

Regarding engagement with the insurance companies, as the Deputy pointed out, we were involved in this very issue in 2002 and 2003 and engaged significantly with them at that time. It really got nowhere and I was not surprised. Their job is to protect the interests of their members, and part of which is their profits. We do not expect them to vote for Christmas. It is down to the members as policymakers to implement the change that needs to be made because it will not be implemented by either the insurance industry or the legal profession.

Regarding IPB and its use, it sounds like a very worthy issue. It will be a long-term issue, but we are looking for immediate actions which will address this situation.

On the cancelling of events, I will defer to Mr. Colm Croffy from AOIFE to give a little insight into events being cancelled.