Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to ask the Leader of the House if he would consider the point made by Senator Davitt regarding representations made by Councillor Suzanne Doyle, a member of Kildare County Council, along with the campaigner, Ray Quinn, that the Minister for Justice and Equality could come into the House to give a response to the well put together document which also has the signatures of all councillors in County Kildare. They are taking the issue very seriously and we should respond in a serious manner to their request.

Following on from what Senator Lawlor said, I had intended raising the issue of insurance as it is the most crucial issue currently. We have heard about many hard cases yet there has been no response. An all-party group composed of the Government and the Opposition should be tackling this issue. I do not know whether the Judicial Council Bill will make any difference. I read an article in the Irish Independenton 16 May saying that a judge said a crash victim was prone to exaggeration before awarding her €10,000. At one time I praised the President of the Circuit Court, Mr. Justice Groarke, because I thought he was doing great work. In this case he said Ms Cantaragiu was "prone to misdescription, exaggeration, misrepresentation, apparent falsehood and a lack of accuracy about injuries, previous medical history and her attendances with doctors". He said he believed her complaint of injury to her neck and lower back was "probably correct", and that he would award her general damages of €10,000, jointly and severally against all the parties involved.