Mr. Ciarán Breen:

I agree. The agency in no way wants to bring people to the steps of the courts or into the courts unless it is compelled to do so. By way of example, the other day we were facing a case with a demand for €3.9 million. After a day in court, the case settled for €75,000. This is an inevitable situation in which we find ourselves at times. Where settlement demands are so significant and beyond our professional estimate of what should be given we are compelled to go to court. We do so because we have a duty to the taxpayer. The 3% of cases that go to trial are cases where there would be a very fundamental liability point. I will give another example. Two weeks ago, we had a case which we requested be discontinued, based on our expert report prior to the trial. We were willing to provide our expert report on why the case did not have merit yet the case progressed and was withdrawn after one day. There are inevitable situations where this happens.

In cases of catastrophic injuries to infants, many are settled before court but they require to be ruled on by a court and, therefore, it appears that we are bringing a family into court but we are not. We are required to do this under ordinary rules.