In a separate and subsequent case brought before the High Court by taxi industry representatives the court ruled that there was no onus on the State to compensate taxi licence holders for any loss in respect of their licences. It was a harsh judgment but in accordance with the law of the time. Notwithstanding this, the Government did recognise that the decision to liberalise gave rise to difficulties for certain taxi licence holders. A number of schemes to mitigate such difficulties were put in place, the most important flowing from the establishment of the taxi hardship panel. I will not repeat the details given already by the Minister in relation to the panel's report, save to confirm that it has been accepted by the Government. This is important because, as Senators have recognised in their contributions, people have suffered considerable hardship as a result of the changes. The arrangements to begin consideration of specific payment requests resulting from the recommendations of the report are being advanced as quickly as possible in parallel with processing of the Bill. It is important that the human side of the story is addressed, too.