Compensation culture is shame on our legal system

THE young lady who received a large settlement recently for ‘tram surfing’ is clearly the beneficiary but also the victim of the dysfunctional compensation culture, uniquely prevalent in Ireland.

As a result of the inevitable outrage, she has been unfairly vilified on social media and elsewhere, despite the legality of her settlement through mediation.

The main beneficiary and culprit in my opinion is the legal profession, aided by a judiciary out of touch with the value of people’s and companies’ hard-earned money.

Despite exhortations by the Troika to tackle the worst excesses of the profession, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour strongly resisted but had no difficulty in simultaneously imposing brutal life-threatening and unnecessary austerity on the poorest and most vulnerable in Irish society.

The reluctance by the main parties was and is clearly the result of the incestuous and cosy link between lawyers, politicians and political parties, none wanting to bite the hand that feeds, and each supporting the other.

It is a glaring indictment of the political system that only the very wealthy or the financially naive can access justice in this so-called democratic republic.

Legal fees as well as court settlements continue to be multiples of those in other European countries.

For instance, the ubiquitous whiplash compensation here is more than five times that in Britain. In France and Spain, common sense and the principle of personal responsibility prevail, and a culture of easy compensation is nonexistent.

It is a truism that the law is an ass, but a well-heeled and cosseted one at that, thanks to blatant and perfidious political patronage across the board. John Leahy

Wilton Road, Cork