Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Public Accounts Committee

National Paediatric Hospital Development Board: 2019 Financial Statement (Resumed)

9:30 am

Mr. David Gunning:

We are investing in a robust claims defence process. That brings litigation and claims defence costs. In 2019, our litigation and claims defence cost was €436 million. These are not the audited numbers, but we will take them. In 2020, the litigation and claims defence cost was €2.3 million. From 2019 to 2020, there was a significant decrease in the claims defence cost. We believe this money is well spent defending each and every one of these claims to save the State money longer term.