Will the Taoiseach comment on remarks made by Dr. Gabriel Scally at the weekend to the effect that Ireland's adversarial system for dealing with medical error is not fit for purpose? Dr. Scally has suggested the introduction of a no-fault compensation scheme, particularly to deal with screening errors but also with rare serious vaccination consequences. People present for screening or vaccination voluntarily for their own good and also for the common good. Will the Government consider the development of a no-fault compensation scheme to avoid costly litigation and extremely distressing legal proceedings?

Dr. Scally was correct in his remarks. The programme for Government contains a commitment in respect of the introduction of a no-fault vaccination compensation scheme. Mr. Justice Charles Meenan is looking at those issues and we expect his report in the coming weeks. It would make a lot of sense to have a no-fault scheme, as many other countries do, for errors where very often there is no fault, for example with screening errors, vaccine errors and cases such as cerebral palsy. We should not be naive to the limitations, however. Often the facts are disputed and once facts are disputed one gets involved in hearings and once there are hearings, lawyers become involved. It can be hard to avoid that once facts are disputed. Under the Constitution, people always have the right to go to court. Where these no-fault schemes exist in other jurisdictions the kinds of awards given are very modest and are a fraction of what is given in Ireland's courts.

There is a high probability that such a scheme may not have a high take-up in Ireland because people may get much larger awards in our courts.