Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an important area on which my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Flanagan, and I are working together. We have already taken a number of steps, including, with the Minister and his Department, the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015, which provides for the use of pre-action protocols in clinical negligence actions, the Mediation Act 2017, which promotes mediation as an efficient alternative to court proceedings, and the much-debated Civil Liability (Amendment) Act 2017, which gives the court the option to make periodic payment orders for catastrophically injured plaintiffs. I note the State Claims Agency tells me that it settles 98% of clinical negligence actions out of court. The Deputy has raised an important issue. The State Claims Agency plays a very important role in this State and it plays an important role on behalf of all the agencies and Departments of the State. The action the Taoiseach has taken is prudent in this regard, namely, to ask the Attorney General to do a body of work with the State Claims Agency to examine if there is a better way in regard to this case to make sure women can get access to the information and the support they need without needing to go to court. I hope also that the independent clinical review I am putting in place will help women get factual information without the need to go to court.

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