Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

From discussing the issue with many people who are involved, I present a different view from that presented by the Minister and one that is based on consideration of the independent assessment of the board by journalists. Does the Minister accept that some of those views include headlines carried in The Sunday Business Post recently to the effect that "insurers are the big winners from injuries claims board", "injuries board needs treatment" and "injuries assessment board needs an urgent overhaul"? Does he accept that at this stage the board is a basket case?

I wish to put some specific questions to the Minister. Why have so few awards been made? Why is it that from July 2004 until now out of 36,000 applications only 4,400 awards have been made? Is it correct that what has happened here could best be described as adding another layer of bureaucracy, cost and delay to the claims process? Where is the current annual report? Why has it not been published? Is it being hidden? Does the Minister agree or is he aware that the acceptance rate for awards has fallen from 75% to 60%? Will he advise the House why many claimants are abandoning the process?

Why do the lawyers to whom I have spoken seem very happy with the system? When I see lawyers happy with the money they are making under a system, I am concerned, having been a former lawyer.

I emphasise the criticisms I put forward do not come from any vested interests but from respected journalists such as Ms Deairbhail McDonald in the Irish Independent and Mr. Pat Leahy in The Sunday Business Post. The Minister might take on board the views of Mr. Eamon Devoy, one of the chief people in the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union. I gather that his view of the PIAB is that it is a fiasco. He represents the country's largest craft union and he has said that a number of the members of his union are injured and some are killed every year and he is of the view that the PIAB is a disaster in dealing with such claims. Is the picture we have of the Government one that is full of the self-satisfied rhetoric of Government and of the PIAB or is the Minister's eyes closed to all these problems?

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