Mr. Ciar?n Breen:

We use a formal procurement process. Solicitors' firms can apply to be on the panel for the general indemnity scheme or the panel for the clinical indemnity scheme. The procurement is a formal process in the context of which they set out the reasons they are applying and why they believe their firm should be chosen. The formal procurement is carried out by the NTMA. It is chaired by the NTMA's head of procurement and based on criteria, such as experience in the particular area of medical malpractice, IT systems, the status of the people who would deal with the cases and so forth.