Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

As a former practitioner, the Minister has probably greater insight, but I am surprised at his remark about the difficulty of calculating the extra costs of the defendant. I think there would be nobody better to calculate the additional costs on the defendant and the defendant's legal adviser than the legal adviser himself. They are good at issuing bills and I do not know any office that does not calculate hours spent on a job, so it should be easy to calculate the additional costs involved. I do not accept that argument.

I will not press this important amendment, but I will re-enter it on Report Stage. The legislation puts the onus on the plaintiff and the Minister refers to the plaintiff's legal adviser, but the Bill refers only to the plaintiff.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.