Derek McDowell (Labour)

Senator Mansergh referred to a level playing field. It is unreal to suggest that an individual, who does not have legal assistance or representation, is in the same position as an insurance company, which has a bank of professional advisers, including assessors and legal professionals, available to it in the normal course. Someone in a working class estate in Dublin, Limerick or elsewhere, who may never have gone through the process before, is not in the same position as a PLC which deals with these cases as its primary business all the time. To suggest that such a person could be in that position without the provision of some sort of independent assistance, legal or otherwise, defies belief.