Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I had the opportunity to meet with and address the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business on two occasions last year. In the course of those discussions it was clear the committee wished to ensure the courts had regard to the Book of Quantum being prepared by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board. This has become very topical because a Book of Quantum is emerging. In the report it published last year the committee made a direct recommendation on that issue. I indicated at the time that I was receptive to the idea and this section is a response to the committee's recommendation. Section 54(1)(b) of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003 makes it one of the principal functions of the board, "to prepare and publish a document (which shall be known as the "Book of Quantum") containing general guidelines as to the amounts that may be awarded or assessed in respect of specified types of injury". It appears logical that the courts should have regard to this Book of Quantum in assessing damages. There is a precedent in that there was a guideline for the Army deafness claims. It is not mandatory, a court is free to disregard it if it wishes but it asks courts to have regard to the Book of Quantum.

If one is a judge in a Circuit Court in Tipperary town, with counsel from both sides addressing a case, and one is trying to decide how much a broken leg or hand is worth, it is useful at least to have a document which addresses that issue. It may be that the judge in his or her independent judicial function regards it as low or high in the circumstances of the particular case but it is in the interests of uniformity in the administration of justice that there should be some general document available to which the Judiciary can have regard, even if it is not strictly legally bound. Subsection (2) makes it clear this is not an exhaustive procedure or that the court cannot have regard to matters not covered by the Book of Quantum. It is a serious advance in an effort to bring consistency if not uniformity to the question of damages.