Mr. Tony O'Brien:

The issue of the ongoing historical funding of any service provider is not the same thing as the approach we would take to the settlement of a case taken by an individual plaintiff. It is important to stress that this case was not taken by the service provider but taken by the plaintiff. Again, before this committee in 2016, I indicated that in relation to those persons who had been harmed and were the subject of the Devine review, the executive - the HSE - would take a particularly positive approach to ensuring that appropriate restitution-compensation was paid for the failings in care, and the consequences of failings in care, in the south east, related not just to Grace but to a number of people. Consequently, the approach to this case was not a hostile defensive approach but one, working with the State Claims Agency, which sought to put to right all of the issues regarding the deficiencies in the care that had led to the harm suffered by this person. Consequently, it was right that the person would be provided with restitution which also would compensate the person for the cost of the care the person had received. That is one answer.