Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a recipe for sheer chaos. I have given two instances but anybody who lives in the areas in question would see how draconian the proposals are. It is very interesting that the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, under whose auspices this is being planned, claims the right to put in objections to various aspects of the NTA's policy proposals. Who is in charge in this country? This sort of question is why we need to discuss this matter further.

I agree with what Senator Conway-Walsh said about insurance claims and the paralysing effect they are having. When we were Ministers, Mary Harney and I did something in the form of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, and bringing in laws against making false and exaggerated claims but there has been huge slippage since then. I do not usually like talking about cases but I see in the papers today that some kid got €30,000 for going over a fence into a building site. What sense is there in our law when things like this happen?