Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A figure of €360 million has been budgeted for this year for the State Claims Agency. Of course, that is not all for legal fees - nor am I suggesting it is - but that is the Estimate for the State Claims Agency this year. As a Government, we are doing a number of things to try to address the issue and reduce the amount involved, of which open disclosure is one element. We all know - Dr. Scally talks about this issue passionately, with conviction and from experience - that often an early admission that a mistake was made, a genuine apology and learning are what we want as citizens, but all too often we have found someone has to go down the adversarial route to get answers.