Ms Patricia Byron:

It has been recognised that the Personal Injuries Assessment Board has the capacity and the capability to have shared services. We have been working closely with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and spoken at many conferences. Our framework is almost complete and includes three major companies. People can draw down very quickly and choose from 60,000 calls to be answered in a crisis or 1 million pieces of paper to be triaged or scanned. Our portals will be available to bring the work through. We have positioned ourselves in regard to providing capacity. That is what I was referring to in respect of scale and flexibility which we can bring to the table across the public service. After that, public servants are in a position to act as technical experts. In my office in Tallaght our technical experts focus on making quasi-judicial awards, whereas our outsourced service centre in Cork brings in the paperwork, uploads it and encourages people to use online services. We do not see any paper in Dublin. We are endeavouring to bring the shared services model across the public service. It is there for the taking and harnessing, but I am not sure it is being exploited or recognised.

With regard to negligence cases, things have changed enormously. The law requires that investigations be carried out within 90 days. The clarity of the case where it is truly defendable can become clear to us and we allow it to go straight to the courtroom for a full defence. Where the inquiry identifies that someone spilled some orange juice, for example, and a lady was injured as a result of the supermarket's negligence, the latter must consent to our process and we will make the award within a matter of months.