Ms Deirdre Courtney:

For our first foray into the court we had to seek 27 professional witnesses. This had to be repeated for our return in November 2012. The cost of these witnesses alone must be colossal, and had we not taken our solicitor's advice in 2012 but done as the State wanted us to do, we would have been back in the High Court again in November 2014 and would have had to revisit all the experts again. How much does the State think a family can take?

Bríd is the youngest of our five children. Her elder sister is aged 22 and the boys are 19, 17 and 14. Having a child with Bríd's needs impacts hugely on a family. The dynamics change and as parents we were always acutely aware of ensuring the other children always felt as cherished as Bríd. Extended family also feel the impact of it. Bríd's grandparents moved house from Cork to Kerry in order that they could help and through the years have helped with the care of Bríd and her siblings. They provide an almost constant taxi service to activities such as football, athletics, rugby and matches. They are still very much involved in Bríd's care. In defending cases such as Bríd's, the State never sees the child or the family. I would ask any of the members to come and live in our house for even a day and see the reality of our situation. We are not statistics. Our daughter has significant needs that must be met every day. She is a wonderful, happy, vibrant young lady and is an inspiration to us all. Her determination never ceases to amaze us. However, she will always and forever need care. That is our and her reality.

We often ask ourselves what the medical profession learned from our negative experience. Did they, as a team, sit down after Bríd was born and ask themselves what happened at her birth and whether they gave the appropriate care and paid enough attention to all aspects of her antenatal care and delivery, and if they did not, what they would do differently next time? If I thought they had learned from this and that it would help another family, I would be happy. However, the policy seems to be to defend and deny at all costs, and therefore the platform is not there for openness and frank discussion. I beseech the members, who are the legislators, to introduce the appropriate legislation that would compel our medical profession to be open, honest and candid.