Maurice Hayes (Independent)

My suggestion probably subverts all proper procedures. Will the Minister conduct a dialogue, even on the side, with Senator Terry and others interested in this point before tabling amendments? This would in a sense be a halfway house between adjourning the debate and allowing Committee Stage to proceed, while also having an opportunity to explore the issue fully on Report Stage.

I, too, welcome the Minister's helpful and open attitude to addressing the possibility of a real injustice being done in one area and trying to make a complicated issue simpler. I assume that linking the two year limitation period to the date of knowledge will address matters such as latent hurt and so forth, which emerge over the years. That would take much of the sting out of the issue.

I have been particularly impressed by a submission I received from the Cheshire Foundation which explained the difficulties of people in circumstances of this nature. I have a good deal of experience of dealing with medical negligence cases. Most people do not seek legal action but want either an explanation or satisfaction and are driven to action because of the defensive nature of the medical profession and the bodies which represent it on insurance matters.

There is a difficulty in this area and I am happy the Minister is proposing to address it, roughly along the lines suggested by Senator Terry. I hope he can convince his colleagues of the importance of doing so. Otherwise, as the Minister already noted, the outcome could be that people will bang in an action before the end of the limitation period in order to cover all the possibilities.

While closure is necessary, we should seek a means of providing for exceptional cases in which persons acting in good faith come up against medical or administrative bureaucracy which creates a difficulty for them. I found myself virtually advising the other side by recommending that people issue writs because nothing else gets a response. I welcome, however, the Minister's appreciation of the importance of the point Senators have raised.