Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I am talking about making representations. I attended the court where the judge in question was a solicitor. I told the court that the poor man had simply parked in the wrong place. The judge told me not to be so quick to accept responsibility as he was going to put him down straight away. We settled the case.

I do not have any hang up about solicitors being involved; after all, insurance companies will have legal advisers. The chairman of the insurance company will not deal with this and it will be left to the company's solicitors to deal with it. If companies will have legal representatives, why not allow claimants to have such representatives if they so wish? I am flexible on this issue. While it should not be necessary for a claimant to have a solicitor, they should be allowed to hire one. It is the Tánaiste's call and I will support whatever she decides.