Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I do not want to waste time but Senator Henry asked me why awards here are substantially higher than in the United Kingdom. Several factors influenced this. Juries persisted in Ireland long after they were abolished for equivalent cases in the United Kingdom. Irish juries tended to give more than those in the United Kingdom when our currencies were at parity. It is very difficult to reduce this to an exact science but I recall on one occasion when I was practising being struck by the fact that the norm in the United Kingdom for the loss of an eye was between £15,000 and £25,000 whereas in Ireland my estimate was between £80,000 and £100,000. I presume these figures mean little now, but which is correct? I will not advance any views as to which is right and which is wrong. If I lost an eye I would favour the Irish system, but if I had to pay for somebody else's eye I might favour the English system.