Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 9, between lines 37 and 38, to insert the following subsection:

"(3) A Statement of Claim shall not be required in a personal injuries action in the High Court and a defendant shall join issue on a personal injuries summons by delivering a defence thereto within twenty-one days from the service of the personal injuries summons.".

Under this Bill the personal injury summons will contain all the information which is currently contained in a statement of claim and, accordingly — this is the intention of the amendment — the Bill should make clear that a statement of claim is not necessary. I think it will appeal to the Minister because the Bill is very strong on time limits for the plaintiff and as the Minister has pointed out, on more than one occasion this morning, it should correspondingly specify a time limit for the defendant to deliver his or her defence.