David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I do not wish to speak on the amendment as it was ruled out of order. I will refer to its substance in the section because it is important. There is another anomaly in the Bill in that provision should be made in it to cope with any subsequent error by the Department.

I will give an example of how the system will work in order for the Minister to understand where I am coming from. As she knows, an injured party can bring a case to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board and the insurance company will also be represented, or the employer or whoever the compensator will be. At a certain point in the process the PIAB must see a certificate supplied by the Department that states the income given to the person, which makes sense. It could be an illness benefit or disability payment. The PIAB then uses the figure to reduce the amount of money the compensator must pay to the injured person, which also makes sense. The compensator must pay that figure to the Department.

Where a subsequent error comes to light, the Department must repay the money to the compensator. Let us say the Department claims a person has been paid €1,000 but, due to a mistake, he or she was only paid €500 and the money was paid back to the compensator. That could lead to problems if the company, for example, goes into liquidation with the result that the person must wait in line with other creditors to get the money back. There is no reason for the money to go back to the compensator. We have called for the money to go directly back to the injured person because it makes sense.

That is what the amendment, which I know is out of order, sought to do. That is a potential anomaly which I ask the Minister to examine with her officials and perhaps correct on Report Stage if possible.