Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Ó Clochartaigh, I have concerns about the Department of Health's calculation. It may have given the absolute worst-case scenario, which people are paid to do. However, in reality the additional cost will not be anywhere near ¤100 million. That statistic is, I suppose, being used as a tactic in the war over whether we should be abolishing those particular schemes. The Ombudsman was almost being blamed for abolition of these schemes despite the fact that all she was doing was pointing out that what the Department of Health was doing, in terms of choosing which law it would obey, was illegal. The Ombudsman has, as the old expression goes, done the State some service. I would like to see a change of heart in the Department of Health such that it stops using taxpayers' money to settle legal cases and instead spends it where it is most needed.