Mr. Peter Boland:

I will take the Senator's questions in order. I will not go into the details of the book of quantum. It is a matter of public record that awards in Ireland, particularly for minor injuries, are far in excess of awards in other jurisdictions. I am sure the GAA, with its cross-Border presence, has an insight into that. The Senator asked how it can be reset. He is absolutely right when he says that as it stands, awards are based on precedent. The Court of Appeal has set a cap of €450,000 on catastrophic awards. It has introduced the principles of proportionality and, more importantly, common sense to the calculation of awards below that level. We would argue that the basis of a framework is already there. There is a process for looking at that, particularly through the Personal Injuries Commission. We have a feeling that the commission has been shunted off towards whiplash injuries and is focusing on such injuries. We believe it should have a much broader remit in looking at awards as a whole. As another part of the current process, the working group is looking at the constitutionality of applying individual caps down the way. That is a long way down the road as we work through the various stages. We are in favour of the broadening of the remit of the Personal Injuries Commission. Its second and third reports will come out in July. We would like its work to be extended to areas beyond whiplash.

The Senator is correct when he says we were told by the Minister that there is insufficient support in the House for the Garda fraud investigation unit. We do not know what the background to that is. I suggest that the Senator should talk directly to the Minister about that.