Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael)
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I can see the point exactly. My point is that it could sometimes be frustrating for people if they felt someone was getting too much and they could not really do more about it because it would cost more.

Mr. Newham used a very good phrase in implying the process under discussion is to be an alternative process to solve claims. For a long time, there has been an alternative process to solve the claims in that if someone fell in a pub, the pub owner would invite the individual to talk and offer a certain amount of money. That happens quite a lot. Do the delegates expect hoteliers, restaurateurs and pub owners, in whose premises accidents of the kind in question happen quite regularly, to consider the process we are discussing as opposed to offering a certain amount of money? Do they believe the process will help a lot of people in the industry, especially in rural Ireland? I am from Tipperary and note that there are pubs in small villages that do not have insurance at all because they cannot afford it. Does Mr. Newham believe the process will help in reducing the cost of insurance and opening things up for small family-run pubs and other places in rural areas that just do not have the money? All they need is one accident for their business to be gone.