Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There will be individual cases that go all the way to court or to the steps of the court. That is unavoidable. There are two parties involved and there are lawyers providing legal advice to their clients and some people will want to have their day in court, but they are a small minority. The vast majority of claimants want to reach a settlement as early as possible in the process, and that is the most cost-effective way from the State's point of view because, looking at the figures in 2020, legal costs for clinical claims represented 18% of the total cost of all claims. It stands to reason that the earlier in the process a settlement is reached, the lower the percentage of the overall cost of the claim that will be attributable to legal costs. It is in the State' interest and the claimant's generally for cases to be settled early. I assure the Deputy that this is an area of focus across Government and a number of Departments from the point of view of costs, which are rising very significantly, and we have to be alive to that and address that, but also because, in the case of genuine claims where there is a settlement due, we want that to happen earlier in the process.

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