Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy D'Arcy, seems to have added another referendum to this list. Last week, he made a direct threat against the Judiciary when he warned that the Government might hold a referendum to curb its discretion in respect of personal injury awards and, specifically, whiplash awards. This raises a number of issues. As we know well in this House, having been subjected to the Judicial Appointments Commission Bill 2017, about which others spoke earlier, the Judiciary is often fair game for populist attacks. It is disappointing that the Minister of State, who is a former Member of this House, is jumping on the bandwagon. I am concerned that he may have done so at the behest of the Government and not as a solo run. How would such a referendum be crafted or worded? It seems to me that it would be impossible to achieve his aim without making a more general encroachment on the independence of the Judiciary, which would be a seriously wrong step to take. It seems to me that the aim of restricting the level of awards could be relatively easily dealt with in legislation. We need to be careful when we discuss whiplash because we risk penalising or stigmatising those who have genuine personal injury claims. The use of phrases like Ireland being the "whiplash capital of Europe" suggests that all whiplash claims are false or fraudulent but this is clearly not the case.