Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If the Ministers' and the State's position, true to their word, is backed up by Dr. O'Flanagan in terms of the 13-fold higher risk, it would seem to me, without having any medical or legal knowledge, that the common-sense approach would be for us to mediate these 80 cases. Then, fine, there might be somebody who is being too greedy based on his or her illness or whatever and is looking for an amount that the State Claims Agency feels is unreasonable and that case could be let proceed. It occurs to me, however, that instead of dishing out money on discovery for something for which we are probably going to end up writing a cheque one way or another, why would we not try mediation before we spend a fortune on a complex list of discovery?