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

Of course the State cannot be a soft touch or anything like that. We are talking about eight or nine people and it is being defended in the High Court and we have Hayes Solicitors on record, which is a private firm that is incurring a cost to the State and all so on. The State's default position will be to defend every case and I would love to know why it is throwing money at this when there are so few people who are clearly thalidomide sufferers. I would like an explanation because it would be much cheaper to mediate and get it done.