Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the committee for its assistance in bringing the Bill to where we are today. I know the committee did a lot of work on this before I took over this brief with my predecessor, Deputy Troy.

As members know, the purpose of the Bill is to amend the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts 2003 to 2019 to increase the number of personal injury claims resolved by the board without recourse to litigation. It was clear during the Second Stage debate in the Dáil that in the main, the Bill was positively received by Deputies across all parties. The resounding message from that debate was the need for reform. The valuable work the board undertakes was mentioned by many Deputies during the Second Stage debate and I agree that this work should in no way be undermined. The changes proposed by this Bill have been carefully considered in consultation with the board and are aimed at strengthening the current model to resolve a greater number of personal injury claims. Deputies raised a number of questions during the debate and we engaged with a number of them afterwards. This includes Deputies O'Reilly, Shanahan and Flaherty, along with Senators Mullen, Crowe and Casey and I thank them for meeting me and engaging with me to tease out those issues further.

Arising from those discussions and based on input from the board, pending drafting by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, I intend moving three amendments on Report Stage. The first amendment is a new section in the Personal Injuries Resolution Board Bill 2022, to provide for an amendment to section 69 of the principal Act to ensure that mediators appointed from a panel are provided the same level of indemnity as mediators who are staff members. The second amendment will introduce another section to the Bill and provide for a review of the Bill. The third amendment is a technical amendment to section 23 of the Bill to enable the proper commencement of the Bill.

My intention is to move forward with this legislation swiftly. The committee has recommended the same. The sooner we can extend the remit of the board, the sooner more claims can be settled within a faster and more cost-efficient process.