Mr. Michael Boylan:

To respond to Deputy Kelleher, the Medical Injuries Alliance is fully in favour of mediation and alternative dispute resolution. The Deputy noted that only 19 of the cases involving the State Claims Agency were mediated. My experience is that mediation takes place much too late in the process, generally in the month before trial when patients and their lawyers and legal teams have incurred great expense and experienced much stress. Mediation is usually viewed as an alternative to settling a case and can create a further delay and more expense.

To respond to Deputy Ó Caoláin, I agree with Mr. Barniville that a voluntary code will not work because there will always be people who act like dinosaurs and resist change.