Results 1,061-1,080 of 1,683 for speaker:Derek McDowell

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Yes. Somebody who intends to make a claim generally goes to a solicitor in the first instance. If there are preliminary negotiations with an insurance company and there is correspondence which discloses an offer being made, generally from the insurance company to the claimant, under this section the correspondence would have to be submitted to the board. The normal process in a court case is...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Before the board.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 6: In page 12, subsection (3)(c), line 3, after "injuries" to insert "and whom the claimant proposes to call as a witness in the event of bringing proceedings in respect of the claim". This amendment deals with medical reports. Again, I am seeking to replicate the situation that applies in court cases. Under the legislation, the board can require all medical reports or...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: It is correct that reports are agreed. However, it is not unusual for a particular report to be unused. One regularly gets reports from doctors that are simply inadequate. They do not regard it as their priority, which is understandable. One, therefore, might choose not to use the report. One exchanges the reports on which settlement is based but one would not necessarily exchange every...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 7: In page 12, subsection (1), line 28, after "practicable" to insert "and, in any event, within 14 days". Section 13(1) says that as soon as practicable after receipt of the application the board serves a notice on the respondent. We want to put in a time limit of 14 days. As the Tánaiste rightly points out, the whole purpose of the Bill is to speed up the process of...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: This amendment seeks to insert a time limit at the start of the process so that when the claim is initiated the respondent has to be told within 14 days. While I accept it might be difficult further down the line to constrain how the board deals with cases as regards time limits, depending on how things develop, it does not seem unreasonable to put it right at the start of the process.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: It is not. I accept the principle that it is something that could and should be dealt with in the rules. It would not be the first time we set up a process that was intended to be simple and fast. I have in mind the process to the Ombudsman's office, which is intended to be simple and fast. The reality is that it takes a long time in many cases, far longer than originally intended, simply...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 8: In page 12, subsection (2), line 36, after "notice" to insert "(being a period not greater than 21 days)". It is of a similar kind. It does have somewhat more implications. It requires the respondent to respond within 21 days when he or she receives the initial notice from the board. This relates to another issue, which will be dealt with shortly in greater length,...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 9: In page 12, subsection (1)(a), line 39, after "states" to insert "in open correspondence to the claimant that the respondent accepts liability for the claim and states".

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Could the Minister deal with the issue of delay that arises where a claimant is prejudiced by virtue of the delay so that he or she has to go back and deal with an issue which he or she thought had been dealt with, and accumulate the evidence?

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Yes.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I accept there will be fewer cases in court, otherwise the process will have been a complete failure and we want it to work so that will not happen. However, the Minister did not deal adequately with the point I am making about delay. As she knows I have a practising certificate but it is some years since I have dealt with this kind of case and I aspire to keep it that way for some time to...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I gather the Tánaiste is contemplating a change of job sooner than I am. As a solicitor I would not like to be in a position where someone approached me 15 or 18 months after going through the lawyer-less process of the PIAB and informed me of an accident 18 months or two years previously which he or she thought was dealt with through an acceptable settlement, but then found that the...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Yes. Amendment put and declared lost. Amendments Nos. 10 and 11 not moved. Section 14 agreed to. Section 15 agreed to. SECTION 16.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: She will not agree.

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Why would the Tánaiste say that?

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 13: In page 14, subsection (1), line 12, to delete "be required to".

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I will not go to war on this but there is an issue. The draftspersons obviously think there are certain types of cases with which the board should not deal. There is no oversight of the issue and if the board makes a decision, that is the end of the matter. The board can then deal with a case with which the Tánaiste and those who drafted the Bill think it should not, such as a case dealing...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: I move amendment No. 14: In page 14, subsection (1), lines 41 and 42, to delete "in case the relevant claim arises out of a trespass to the person,". My purpose in proposing this amendment was to find out what this subsection intended to capture. It seems, perhaps, that it intends to capture cases of physical or sexual abuse or something of that kind, but that is not explicit in the Bill. I...

Seanad: Personal Injuries Assessment Board Bill 2003: Committee Stage. (24 Nov 2003)

Derek McDowell: Did the Parliamentary Counsel have cases of sexual abuse in mind or why is it included?