Mr. Neil McDonnell:

There is a data black hole. The Deputy is absolutely right to point that out. We have already seen in the latest update on the report of the cost of insurance working group that there is not going to be a database. We have said that in view of Mr. Nicholas Kearns' final report, it is absolutely clear that there needs to be a claim-by-claim database. We have asked the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Darcy, to reconsider the decision because we believe it is wrong.

It is a greater cause of anger if one believes that a claim is fraudulent but the final outcome actually does not matter. The only difference is that one is getting sued by someone who knows they do not have an injury but one is still going to pay regardless of whether the claim is legitimate. The reason we have made quantum the number one concern relates to Mr. Kearns' point in his summation. Like Hansel and Gretel, Mr. Kearns did a fantastic job dropping the breadcrumbs for Members of the Oireachtas to follow in terms of required outcomes. He stated that the quantum is unjustifiably and inexplicably large and that it is leading to all sorts of other consequences. It is resulting in higher premiums but it is also attracting criminality. Mr. Kearns is saying that we do not have any mechanism to deal with this. The Minister of State, Deputy D'Arcy, is saying that he cannot tell the Garda what to do. We have suggested this is a particular area of white-collar crime in which there is no enforcement whatsoever, and that the courts do not enforce anything against those concerned. To an extent, it does not matter whether an organisation such as a play centre operator is getting sued by a fraudulent claimant or a legitimate claimant; since there is €30,000, €40,000 or €50,000 of quantum, there will be somebody there. We have described it as a honey pot that is attracting all these people in. The level just has to be reduced.

Collectively, Members of the Oireachtas have been informed that there is a problem with capping damages. The very first recommendation Mr. Kearns made in his Personal Injuries Commission report, which went back to the Department, involved capping damages by means of legislation. We have shown, in documentation sourced through freedom of information provisions by Mark Tighe in The Sunday Times, that it was immediately nobbled by the lawyers and taken out. Mr. Kearns very clearly left the same recommendation in. He has just said he believes the judicial council is the way to go or the way to achieve the same thing. There is a possibility that a judicial council could sit down and decide to maintain damages at the same level, or 60% or 70% thereof. That would not be a solution. In our view, this is a public policy matter, not a matter for court procedure or judges. Respectfully, we suggest it is the members' job to cap damages.