Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The second table is useful. The ratio between the compensation paid and the legal fees is important. If we are going to change things, for example, looking at how we reduce costs, sometimes it is about how we do things in terms of a very legalistic process. For example, where a prison officer is injured in work and is out for six months, there would be medical costs and compensation paid. What is the relationship between that and the legal costs? Is there a kind of an open disclosure approach in the same way there is an acceptance of liability? Does one cut down on costs by virtue of the fact that one does not have to be overly legalistic in some cases?

I am not saying that the State should roll over and pay compensation willy-nilly. It must be properly evaluated. In the absence of knowing what those legal costs are, it is very difficult to see just exactly how these are handled.