Mr. John Newham:

As for prolonging the process, no, the board will still be required to resolve cases within nine months, so the mediation should not interfere in that.

I am not sure about enhanced legal fees. This refers back to one of Deputy O'Reilly's questions. The personal injuries guidelines do not just reduce the level of awards. One of the side effects of that reduction has been that a lot of the caseload has been moved from the higher courts into the lower courts, which in itself reduces the legal costs, so things are moving all the time and it is therefore difficult to compare one with the other. Certainly, in respect of the mediation we do not envisage any significant increase in legal costs. Mediation is voluntary. It is down to the parties themselves to agree. I would therefore counter what Senator Crowe says by saying there should be a win-win situation to this.