Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 81: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if, during her visit to New Zealand she examined their no-fault compensation scheme for injury as a result of medical negligence or treatment; her views on whether parents of children with cerebral palsy must fight for years to get compensation for injuries at birth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20240/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I and my officials held a number of meetings with senior health officials and with the Minister for Health during my recent visit to New Zealand. In the course of those meetings we discussed the role of the Accident Compensation Corporation and the general no fault compensation scheme that operates there.

As the Deputy may be aware, an advisory group was established in 2001, to examine the equity, effectiveness and appropriateness of existing arrangements for compensating persons who suffer cerebral damage at, or close to the time of birth, and to make such recommendations as the Group sees fit. The Group has yet to complete its work. I will await the Group's report before giving further consideration to a wider no fault compensation scheme for the health services.

In this country, compensation in many cases involving cerebral damage is dealt with under the Clinical Indemnity Scheme of enterprise liability. Cerebral Palsy is a complex condition which can be caused by, inter alia, prematurity, developmental brain malformation, neurological damage to the developing brain, hypoxia or medical error.

I understand that the average time from the institution of proceedings to the ultimate resolution of a typical CP case is now approximately 4 years as a result of the introduction of Enterprise Liability.