Mr. Tom Ryan:

I do not doubt that there are claims which are our fault. We have a responsibility to our members and to the public to operate safe facilities. If it is our fault, we have an obligation to compensate people for our shortcomings and that is what we do. As Mr. Sinclair has mentioned, exaggeration or embellishment might well be a feature. To be fair, I would be speculating if I were to put a percentage on that. The volume of cases or claims has increased significantly in recent years. In previous years, there was an ethos or attitude that people did not really sue the GAA. It was not a feature. We might have been a bit naive or complacent, but we are now finding that this attitude does not really prevail anywhere. I hope committee members and others will have noticed that we are trying to broaden our commitment to local communities outside hurling and football, for example by encouraging walking groups and others to use our facilities. When people who are not a core part of the GAA as an organisation suffer something adverse, they might be more disposed towards taking a claim than our own members might have been.