A woman who once resided in a mother and baby institution has launched a lawsuit against the State for allegedly being mismatched with the wrong infant at birth, according to a recent report. The female’s case, premised on DNA testing of the now matured child, is among 118 cases initiated by former inhabitants of such establishments, all of which the State Claims Agency (SCA) was overseeing in late 2023.
A decrease from 150 instances a year earlier, these cases pertain to experiences within these institutional frameworks spanning the 1940s to the 1980s, as cited in the yearly report by the agency. The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme was officially enacted into law in July 2023, with the objective of extending payments and aids to eligible former residents, as noted in the SCA’s document.
As of the end of 2023, the collective claims which include those from former residents of State institutions, account for 13% of a hefty 11,137 claims supervised by the SCA.
The Irish Prison Service concurrently contends with 371 cases initiated by current and former prisoners who argue that poor in-cell sanitation has violated their constitutional rights. The SCA confirmed that either resolutions or withdrawals have occurred in 88% of the 2,805 claims subsequent to the Supreme Court’s verdict in 2019, which awarded €7,500 in damages to a former prisoner coerced to live under deplorable sanitation conditions.
The CervicalCheck Screen program was facing 393 claims by the year-end of 2023. Of these, 244 have been settled, including claims for psychological damage brought forth by family members of troubled women.
Additionally, 135 claims were being lodged by members of the Defence Forces by year-end, citing diverse physical and psychological symptoms resulting from consuming the anti-malarial drug Lariam while on duty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Lastly, the report unveils that the cost associated with unresolved legal claims against the State exceeded €5 billion for the first occasion. The SCA highlighted that while the number of cases witnessed a 4% decrease over the past five years, there has been a contradictory 43% surge in the estimated liabilities of the claims.
According to the 2019 estimation, the 11,580 active claims were worth €3.63 billion, meanwhile predictions for the 11,137 ongoing claims at the end of 2023 anticipate a cost of €5.18 billion to the public purse. It is noted that the principal reason for the expected payouts is the high value of catastrophic injury claims, contributing over €3 billion to the expected liability.
Additional contributing factors include general inflation, major mass actions, longer life spans of claimants, and repercussions of a 2015 Appeal Court ruling that significantly altered calculations for future damage awards. The precise expenditure for settling and administrating active claims in the previous year amounted to €538.1 million, marking a rise of 3 per cent compared to the outcome in 2022.
These statistics are presented in the annual record of the National Treasury Management Agency, also referred to as the SCA when it oversees personal injury and other allegations against the State and particular State departments.