Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

No. What the Law Society said is correct. It is turning the clock back, since all pleadings used to be lodged in files, and it was considered that, in most cases, that was a waste of time as the interested parties could be relied on to keep an eye on each other in any litigation. However, in the context of this new, fairly tough regime whereby, if one makes a false claim or swears a false affidavit, one exposes oneself to a statutory penalty of ten years' imprisonment, we want a clear, official record of what the person claimed, and clear, official evidence centrally available that the person swore an affidavit in certain terms. We do not want a defendant to have lost the file or left it under the cat's bed in the corner of the solicitor's office so that the whole matter simply evaporates.