Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have a particular view on that. Bear in mind why these cases occur, why they end up in the High Court, why they do not end up in court and why settlements are made out of court - it is because the parents or the patient are alleging medical negligence as the reason they have cerebral palsy, for example. It is a scientific fact that in those cases cerebral palsy is not caused by negligence, it is because of something that happened in the womb. That is essentially what this boils down to. The no-fault way would be a better way to do this by saying: "A child with cerebral palsy needs support. Whether it was a natural occurrence or medical negligence is not the point, let us just look after all these children." This requires a total change of policy and a significant increase in costs because one would then be treating equally those who could prove medical negligence and those who cannot. It would mean that in cases of cerebral palsy occurring for natural reasons - which is usually the cause - those children should get whatever supports they need anyway. While that would be a totally different approach and a very costly one, I think it would be the right one.