Questions

573. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the total cost of medical negligence litigation, including settlements, awards, and legal fees, to date in 2026, in tabular form. [54701/26]

579. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the total cost of medical negligence litigation, including settlements, awards, and legal fees, in the past five years to end of July 2026, in tabular form. [54707/26]

2125. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Health the amount paid in legal costs to each of the top ten legal firms representing plaintiffs in medical negligence cases in 2024 and 2025; the number of cases payments relate to, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20318/26]

2126. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Health the amount paid out in legal costs to each of the top ten named legal firms representing the agency in medical negligence cases in 2024 and 2025; the number of cases payments relate to, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20319/26]

1053. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if her Department, or any agency working on its behalf, ask families to sign a non-disclosure agreement in relation to compensation that was received as part of the Hep C/HIV scandal [11629/26]

1054. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health if the HSE, or any agency working on its behalf, ask individuals to sign any agreements or contracts of any kind in relation to citizens who were infected by Hepatitis C or HIV by any State services; and if she will detail these agreements or contracts were, and provide an example of them [11630/26]

2474. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether her Department, or any body under its aegis, has funded, or is funding, other than where legal costs were awarded against the employer by a court or tribunal, the legal costs of any current or concluded litigation taken by an employee or former employee against that Department or body, in each of the past five years; if so, to provide details of the numb…

2475. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health the basis on which her Department, or a body under its aegis, may fund the legal costs of an employee or former employee in litigation where that employee is in dispute with, or taking proceedings against, the same body; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2041/26]

2476. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether the funding of employee legal costs in disputes against her Department, or a body under its aegis, is standard practice; if not, the circumstances in which such funding may be permitted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2059/26]

2477. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health to outline the guidance, codes, circulars or directions that govern the payment of legal costs by her Department, and bodies under its aegis, in employment-related disputes, including any requirements under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies or Departmental sanction arrangements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2077/26]

2478. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether the funding of employee legal costs in litigation against the employing body could give rise to governance, accountability, or value for money concerns; whether her Department has issued any guidance in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2095/26]

2479. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has reviewed, or intends to review, the practice of Departments, and bodies under their aegis, funding legal costs in employment disputes involving those same bodies; and if so, the outcome or timeline for such a review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2113/26]

2480. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether arrangements to fund legal costs in employment disputes involving her Department, or bodies under its aegis, require the prior approval of her Department or the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2131/26]

963. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health the number of cases taken against the HSE by people whose family members died from Covid-19 in HSE run nursing homes and hospitals. [71781/25]

1866. Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Health if she accepts that the average cost of a legal claim for medical negligence in Ireland is almost three times higher than in the UK; that cases take over 50 per cent longer to resolve than in the UK; her views that a medical negligence claim in Ireland takes 1,462 days on average (four years), 14 per cent longer than in South Africa and 56 per cent lo…

230. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health the total cost of medical negligence litigation against the HSE and her Department from 2014 to date in 2025; to include awards made in the courts; settlements made out of court to resolve disputes, and legal costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52571/25]

2563. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health the amount spent on legal fees associated with litigation, advice and settlements in each of the past three years by her Department and agencies under its aegis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40882/25]

2698. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health if all external legal fees incurred by her Department, and by any bodies under its aegis, are charged at negotiated discounted rates; how fees are monitored for compliance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41506/25]

2701. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health if her Department has conducted any audits or reviews in the past five years on legal fee spend; if so, to publish the findings or summaries of those reviews; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41560/25]

2703. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health if her Department makes use of capped fee arrangements, fixed-fee briefs, success-based fee models or other such arrangements in its legal engagements; if not, the reason such options are not considered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41596/25]

2704. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Health whether any legal engagements have exceeded their initial estimated or approved cost in the past three years; if so, the number of such cases and total overrun; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41614/25]

3130. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Health if she is aware of the case of 20 individuals making a claim against the State (details supplied); if an update will be provided; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43360/25]

749. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health for confirmation that the legal instructions issued by her predecessor and contained in a letter titled ‘Directions from Minister of Health to the Executive under section 10 of the Health Act 2004’, which issued in January 2025, were carried out in full; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31837/25]

750. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Health whether she has received any update from the HSE Board on its response to the legal instructions that issued from her predecessor in January 2025, and were contained in a letter titled ‘Directions from Minister of Health to the Executive under section 10 of the Health Act 2004’; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31838/25]

944. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Health the number of legal cases defended by her Department in each of the past ten years in which the next friend of a minor was the plaintiff or applicant; of those cases, the number in which proceedings are pending or continuing; the number of cases which were lost and won, respectively, in the same period; the number of cases that settled in the past ten years in res…