Feargal Quinn (Independent)
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What a great success story. Doing something in a period of seven months rather than what it used to be, three years, is deserving of congratulations.

My query concerns negligence cases. In my experience in the supermarket business, there were a number of occasions when people sued us because they had fallen on the floor in the supermarket. They assumed that, because it had happened in the supermarket, we were liable, but the judge found we were not negligent in that we had done everything that was expected. I am thinking of one particular case in which a woman slipped on a grape and injured herself, but we were able to prove we had two well trained cleaners on duty that day who had done what the judge described as all that could be expected. It does not make sense that it becomes a case of medical negligence because someone slips on the floor in a hospital. I do not know how one goes about solving this problem.

Will the delegates explain what is meant by shared services and the extent to which it is possible for the Personal Injuries Assessment Board to share services with other State boards? Perhaps the Personal Injuries Assessment Board does this already. Ms Dowling spoke about joined-up thinking and it seems that is what we need. If there is an ability to share services with other boards, it is a huge opening. Is this something the Personal Injuries Assessment Board is already doing or is it taking the first steps towards it? Does the board need legislation to facilitate it?