The State is facing some 121 compensation claims relating to nursing home care during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The State Claims Agency (SCA) has confirmed that 54 of the claims relate to deaths from Covid-19. Another 45 arise from Covid-19 infections and 13 are related to the administration of vaccines. A further nine claims are not related to death, infection or vaccine care.
The breakdown of the details of the claims was provided to The Irish Times after the issue was highlighted at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
The committee’s chairman, Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, asked SCA director Ciarán Breen about claims related to nursing home deaths and whether there are signs the cases “move into mediation as opposed to an adversarial setting in court.”
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Mr Breen said this would happen “insofar as we possibly can” but added that private nursing homes are also involved. “In every case where we believe that mediation should happen we will be absolutely urging mediation,” he said.
Of the 54 claims related to Covid-19 fatalities, 40 of the deaths took place in private nursing homes, one in a HSE nursing home, three in an acute setting and 10 in a community setting.
Mr Breen told the committee that the SCA had not prepared a breakdown of the estimated liability for the claims ahead of Thursday’s meeting but it would be part of its overall estimated liabilities.
An agency spokesman later said: “The SCA does not publish the estimated liability associated with ongoing claims as such figures are sensitive in the context of the resolution of the claims.”
The State Claims Agency is tasked with managing personal injury and property damage claims against the State and State authorities as well as providing risk management services.
Earlier, the committee heard the estimated liability of compensation claims made against State agencies stood at almost €5 billion at the end of 2022.
Data provided by SCA shows how there were 11,204 active claims with a combined outstanding liability of €4.95 billion.
Mr Breen told the Public Accounts Committee that €3.85 billion of this are estimated liabilities of 3,875 claims under the Clinical Indemnity Scheme. He said about €2.4 billion of this related to 914 active claims arising from maternity services.
Mr Breen outlined how €200 million - more than half of the payments made last year – were related to maternity claims.
Earlier, Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy told TDs that the “estimated average liability in clinical indemnity cases is heavily influenced by a small number of high value claims involving cases of catastrophic injury.”
He added: “Cerebral Palsy claims, which predominantly occur within maternity services, accounted for around 40 per cent of the estimated liability at end 2021 but represented just 4.5 per cent of the total number of active claims.”
The committee was told that the estimated liabilities under the separate General Indemnity Scheme stood at €1.1 billion at the end of 2022.
Mr Stanley asked which State bodies were “top of the league” for non-clinical claims.
Mr Breen mentioned the Irish Prison Service, the Garda and the Department of Defence in his response.
Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy asked about potential liability in relation to incidents that occurred but were not claimed for.
Mr Breen said the latest IBNR [Incurred but not reported] report was from 2021 and it estimates a sum of €13 billion.
Labour TD Alan Kelly asked a senior Department of Health official for an update on the Civil Liabilities Amendment Bill.
Mr Kelly pushed for changes to the law following the death from cancer in 2020 of Ruth Morrissey – a prominent campaigner for justice for women in the CervicalCheck screening scandal.
He told the Dáil at the time that one of the best ways of securing her legacy would be to change the Civil Liability Act to enable dependents of a dying person to claim for losses in one action rather than having to go through the courts again after the person has passed away.
Mr Kelly told the committee he had raised the issue many times and sent a draft Bill to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly. He called the current legal situation “a bloody disgrace”.
He asked for an update on plans to change the law in writing saying he is “sick and tired of the Government bluffing on it”.
Greg Dempsey, the deputy secretary of the Department of Health, later told the meeting that the issue is “under ongoing examination with the Department of Justice.”
