Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegations. We had lots of different groups in here, including road hauliers, insurance companies and legal professionals when we were preparing our report on insurance costs. Nobody was to blame, according to those with whom we engaged.

ISME apportions a lot of blame to the Judiciary. It argues that a substantial minority of our Judiciary is excessively, unfairly and unjustly pro-plaintiff. ISME was not surprised to see the same High Court justice, who ironically oversees the personal injury list in the High Court, mount a stout defence of the current personal injuries system in the press, suggesting that awards for general damages have fallen in real terms since the 1970s. ISME suggests that this committee should understand that while it does not expect the law to be on its side, it does expect it to be blind. ISME members have advised the organisation that one of the most important considerations before they decide to defend a case in court is the name of the trial judge. If it is one of a small number of judges with a pro-plaintiff reputation, they will instruct their counsel to settle, irrespective of the merits or strengths of their defence. ISME argues that this is an appalling indictment of our Judiciary and I agree. The statement from ISME is unbelievable but the representatives here today stand over it. It is a sad state of affairs, in my view.

We have all come across cases such as those outlined by previous contributors and we understand the issues relating to the book of quantum and so forth. Mr. Boland said that it was clear to his organisation that the dead hand of vested interests and the lack of sufficient political will are grinding the response to the crisis to a halt. In that context, he is blaming the political system, as well as the Judiciary and vested interests. I ask him to outline to us what we, as politicians, can do. We believe there is very little more than we can do. We are already exerting pressure wherever we can.