Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I support those proposals from the Chairman and Deputy Murphy. The stand-out figures in the correspondence are those relating to claims regarding our health services. The figures paid over the past five years in medical negligence claims amount to almost €322 million. Active claims relating to the HSE are almost 50% of claims, just under 3,830, with an estimated outstanding liability of €595 million. Obviously, we cannot go into the merits or otherwise of those claims and the awards that have been made, but it appears fairly self-evident that if we could improve the situation with regard to claims being made and awarded with our health services, we could deliver a significant saving, not only to the State but also to every insurance customer in the State. Without a specific proposal around how we could do that, will the Comptroller and Auditor General indicate whether or not he has come across anything in his deliberations that could point to a potential way of reducing the numbers of claims, and reaching those savings, or whether his office would be willing to examine this matter further in the coming period?