Mr. Ciarán Breen:

To answer that qustion very honestly, we have not picked it out as an issue which is driving litigation costs. The reason is that in very many cases, when one looks at liability and causation, one will find that there is a complex set of factors feeding into it. The Senator will not be surprised by this. We do not look at what an individual doctor does. We look broadly at how and why an event happened. Afterwards our risk management team tries to apply the lessons learned with the hospitals.

I have no doubt, however, that the resource issues which are recognised are contributing somewhat. One sees it mostly, for example, in emergency departments and such areas.