Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

PIAB is actively engaged in that process and it wants to ensure that it wins its court cases and that the courts are sticking to the judicial guidelines. We will have to wait to see how this aspect turns out. Hopefully, however, it will remain the case.

Regarding Deputy Lawless's comments, I thank him for his support regarding mediation. Broadly speaking, there has been general support during pre-legislative scrutiny and even during public consultation. I share his view of PIAB as a quasi-judicial body. This has been the reason why it has taken 18 months to get to this stage. We were going backwards and forwards on this issue, and I was continually arguing with the Attorney General to try to get him to go to the next level. It was felt, however, that rather than stall the progress we are making, that we would start with this proposal and it will not prevent us from working further to enhance PIAB even more later. We want to get this legislation enacted this year because we believe it will contribute to bringing down the cost of insurance. Equally, however, I still believe there is an opportunity to go further later.

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