Mr. Ciarán Breen:

As committee members possibly know, in 2012 following a Government decision a legal costs unit was established within the agency. The unit was set up to deal primarily with the tribunals of inquiry costs initially, but it has spread its wings much wider. Now it handles all our costs arising from the clinical indemnity scheme and the general indemnity scheme. What Deputy Connolly says is correct. There is overstatement of legal costs by plaintiffs' lawyers – that is a fact. Our job in every case is to get best value for the taxpayer, analyse costs forensically and then agree what we believe should be the appropriate costs.