Mr. Ciaran Breen:

I agree with the Deputy that when a couple such as the Gaffney Hayes come before the court in the way they did in November, it is an extraordinarily difficult time for them. We understand that. For us, managing the litigation poses different stresses and approaches but for them the whole case was fraught with emotion. The Deputy has raised a couple of points in the context of that case that I think I should address, which are matters of record at this stage. I cannot go into, without prejudice, settlement negotiations because we never talk about those. It is true that the obstetrician indicated that he certainly felt that the case was not defendable initially, shortly after the birth. The fact of the matter was that we did not get the personal injuries summons until 26 October 2010. Notwithstanding what the obstetrician might think about it, and clearly his view is very important and one that determines our approach to the case, we are also obliged to take expert evidence to examine the care that was given in the particular instance. In September 2011, our reports which indicated that, clearly, there had been a breach of duty of care, actually admitted the breach of duty on that date, 27 September 2011. There was an additional issue. It is quite complex when one looks at the causation issues in cerebral palsy cases but an issue was left over and we were awaiting some reports. On 7 June 2012 we admitted liability in full and on that date - 7 June 2012 - invited the solicitors for the Gaffney Hayes family to meet us for, without prejudice, settlement discussions.