Derek McDowell (Labour)

I gather the Tánaiste is contemplating a change of job sooner than I am. As a solicitor I would not like to be in a position where someone approached me 15 or 18 months after going through the lawyer-less process of the PIAB and informed me of an accident 18 months or two years previously which he or she thought was dealt with through an acceptable settlement, but then found that the insurance company would not pay up. One would then have to reconstruct a case from the start, from perhaps 18 months or two years previously. That is a genuine difficulty, something that does not currently arise.

I accept all the Tánaiste says about delays in the current process, but one thing that is done quite promptly is that the initial evidence is charted and the statements are taken in at the start of the process. The way in which the PIAB is being promoted will certainly induce some claimants to avoid going through that initial process because they will think that a case pursued through the PIAB is quick and easy, with liability sorted, and with no need to go through the business of witnesses being contacted for statements and so on. One will end up having to reconstruct cases 18 months or two years down the road, and that is not fair.