Professor Gerard Whyte:

I would agree with Deputy but, in these types of situation, Departments are buying off individual litigants so that they can protect the policy they have in place. I came across that through work I did with FLAC. In one particular case, FLAC was bringing a High Court challenge on a Monday morning and, on the Sunday night, a senior counsel from the other side rang our senior counsel to say they would give us what we were looking for but insisted on a confidentiality agreement. In such a situation, the client has got what he or she is looking for. One cannot go into the High Court and tell the judge to highlight the fact that there is a problem for dozens, maybe even hundreds, of other similarly situated welfare claimants. The use of confidentiality clauses is a strategy to protect policies.