Joe O'Toole (Independent)

Not yet. While I accept the Minister's good intentions, this has been dragging on for 13 years. The day Deputy Hanafin was made Minister in 2002 the Government adopted a programme for Government. In the same year the Motor Insurance Advisory Board issued a report with 67 recommendations, one of which was that the system of lump sum compensation payments be reviewed on the basis that the long-term needs of the seriously injured might be better served by guaranteed annual payments. These recommendations were adopted at the time by the then Government as part of the programme for Government.

That Motor Insurance Advisory Board report led to the creation of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and a number of other changes. It came at a time when the cost of insurance was going through the roof and many wanted to take all sorts of initiatives to deal with it, this recommendation being one of them. The commitment was given by the Government in 2002 when the Minister was at the Cabinet table. It is hard for me to accept that we should wait another year. It sounds reasonable when the Minister says: "What is the rush? Let us do it in a year's time," but I am not convinced. I could probably raise three other issues that have taken from 2002 until now to progress. I do not have a sense of confidence that this will happen. It is one of the issues that is driving up the cost of insurance. While I acknowledge it is only a small part of the problem, these are the issues we need to address all of the time. We talk about the cost to industry of many things. This would be one way of driving down costs; it would make the situation manageable and be better for everybody.

While this may not seem like a fair comment, apart from a person having to deal with a large lump of money, there is also the issue that people with a large sum of money suddenly become attractive magnets for others, including extended family members. If it is suggested the family should give €1,000 here or €2,000 there, the money will drain away very quickly because no one is used to dealing with such an amount of money.

Every argument is in favour of what I am suggesting. I, therefore, ask the Minister to grasp the nettle and pass this amendment now. She should be brave and just do it. If the Minister just takes it on and does it, we will make it work.