Mr. Brian Hanley:

I will be quick. I am conscious what is going on in the Seanad today in the context of retailers and what is impacting on their insurance premiums. We have 14 times as many defamation claims in Ireland as there are in our nearest neighbours. Unfortunately, the system is set up such that it is too expensive to defend oneself against a claim, so a business has to bear the cost of an increased premium. Bear in mind that we are dealing with multiples of volumes of claims.

It is not that you cannot go and defend yourself in court, but the minute someone threatens an appeal, you have to settle because you are not going to be able to get the money out of the person accusing you of defamation for merely asking for proof of purchase. There are things like that-----