Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)

Currently it takes a couple of years for a claimant to get a case into court. Only about 10% of cases end up in court, 90% are settled either in advance of the hearing or at the door of the court. Even under the current system very few cases go to court. My Department has received strong legal advice from the Attorney General on this legislation. The kind of safeguards that we would all want to see for claimants in our society are not in any way undermined by the establishment of the PIAB. On the contrary, claimants will receive their entitlements more quickly than is the case under the current regime. Some of the amendments being suggested do not apply at all under the current regime, which is a very slow cumbersome procedure from the time one makes a claim to the day one is heard in court if one is not satisfied with what may or may not be offered. It takes many years. Under no circumstances will this board add to that time. With the PIAB in place there will be fewer cases in the courts and because of the mediation system which the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is bringing in through his legislation, and other changes even with PIAB, people will be able to get into court much more quickly than they can under the current regime.