Written answers

Tuesday, 8 April 2025

Department of Health

Departmental Legal Cases

Photo of Liam QuaideLiam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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929. To ask the Minister for Health for a breakdown of legal costs for the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 incurred by the state arising from the defence of cases taken by members of the public against the HSE on issues of alleged medical negligence or other forms of alleged service failure; the number of cases upheld by the courts; and the numbers of cases settled out of court. [16849/25]

Photo of Jennifer Carroll MacNeillJennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of State Authorities.

The SCA has provided me with the information set out below.

The information contained within this response was extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

Question 1

The following table contains the transactional amounts paid (including VAT where applicable) in open and closed claims, and a small number of incidents and inquests, in respect of clinical care*. It includes payments between 01/01/2021 and 31/12/2024 and is correct as of 01/04/2025.

- 2021 2022 2023 2024 Grand Total
Damages €284,856,265 €289,186,426 €275,923,353 €210,465,484 €1,060,431,528
Agency Legal Costs €25,241,548 €23,021,373 €28,491,825 €32,456,154 €109,210,900
Plaintiff Legal Costs €44,709,880 €53,927,803 €63,226,484 €70,502,165 €232,366,332
Expert Costs €7,309,245 €7,963,127 €10,762,805 €12,190,253 €38,225,430
Grand Total €362,116,938 €374,098,730 €378,404,467 €325,614,055 €1,440,234,190
Table 1: Clinical transactional amount paid in the period 2021-2024.

* This may include claims under the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (including Safety Net), SOS/SOIS, or CAPS.

Question 2

Out of a total of 2,593 clinical care claims finalised in 2021-2024, 35 were finalised by way of a court ruling, and the remaining were finalised by other means.

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