The High Court has approved a settlement of €4.25m in the case of a 25-year-old woman who was severely injured in a car accident three and a half years ago.
Claire Noone, from Summerhill in Co Meath, needs round-the-clock care after she was thrown from her car in an accident at Enfield in November 2006.
A High Court judge said the law needed to be changed to allow for annual payments in such cases.
Mr Justice John Quirke made the remark after the family of Ms Noone expressed concern that the award may not be enough to care for her for the rest of her life.
Mr Justice Quirke said he had been saying for some time that the law - which currently only allows for lump sum payments - should be changed.
He said the law could be changed in the next 12 months but added that he could only apply the law as its stands now and often he did not like it.
Ms Noone, who sued through her mother Anne Noone, took the action against Michael and Margaret Laheen from Menlough, Ballinasloe.
She was thrown from her car after the accident, during which it was alleged that Michael Laheen drove through a red light. Ms Noone's boyfriend died in the accident.
While liability was admitted there was an issue of possible contributory negligence because Ms Noone may not have been wearing a seat belt.
It had been accepted there was a possibility Claire Noone was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident but it was contended that she would have been just as seriously injured if she had been wearing one.
The court was told that she suffered severe brain and physical injuries and will require round-the-clock care for the rest of her life.
The settlement figure was based on life expectancy but her family said while this was capped at 63, she could live much longer.
