Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

May I ask two clarifying questions in trying to understand whether to support the amendment?

My reading of the section essentially says that the rules of the High Court shall apply. My first question is whether it is the case that a judge of the High Court can say that he or she is awarding the person X amount for now and the judge is putting in a provisional sum, in case of adverse events happen in the future. If the rules of the High Court are being applied, could the High Court essentially do this now?

Second, if we do something like this, must we have a perpetual tribunal in order that one could come back to the tribunal X number of years later to say one has had a recurrence of cervical cancer that one believes it is linked to the first one and to ask the tribunal to judge on it and therefore make one an award if it believes there is a link? Would it not be possible to refer such future judgments back to the High Court? If it is the case that the High Court can already make such provisional judgments, then my reading of the power of the tribunal is it could do so as well but we need some provision to say that by the way, if such a future judgment is needed, it will not happen at the tribunal because the tribunal will not be open forever, but that such a judgment would be made in the High Court.