Mary Henry (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and I welcome the Bill. I sometimes wonder whether people make personal injury claims as the only way to get a public authority to take any notice of what has happened to them. I speak from personal experience. I try to walk as much as possible around the city rather than bringing my car or even taking public transport. It is extremely difficult to keep one's balance on the footpaths and roads of this city.

I regret that Alderman Joe Doyle is no longer in the Seanad. I used to be able to give him a list of complaints and to give him his due he certainly dealt with matters such as getting the problem on Baggot Street fixed. There is frequently a serious difficulty in getting public authorities to fulfil their duties. I have great sympathy in this regard because the utility companies dig up the roads with monotonous regularity. It is the responsibility of such companies or of the local authority to put them back in place. For example, I fell in Nassau Street in February. The hole in the road, which is almost opposite the Setanta car park exit, is still there although I informed Dublin City Council of its presence. The Minister of State can see it for himself. When one crosses the road at the lights at the bottom of Kildare Street, one can see that the concrete at the crossing was unevenly laid. That happened about three or four years ago and several people have fallen there since. I, along with others, informed the council, but nothing has been done about it. Sometimes I think people seek recourse to the courts, not out of avarice, but in an attempt to get the public authorities to deal with a problem of this kind. I have sympathy with that.