The State Claims Agency's legal bill in managing and resolving claims against it last year increased by 8.5% to €175m.
That is according to new figures which show that the SCA paid out a total of €287m in awards and settlements in 2024 - which was down 24% on the €376.8m paid out in 2023.
The biggest driver in the SCA's legal costs was plaintiff legal costs, which increased from €98.2m to €106.5m last year
The agency's own legal and other costs increased from €63.1m to €68.4m.
The SCA deals with all personal injury actions taken against State agencies, including the HSE, employing over 200,000 State employees and all public service health care users.
The bulk of the awards and settlements arise from clinical claims amounting to €210.5m and legal costs of €115m in 2024 while the cost of awards and settlements from general claims last year totalled €76.5m and an additional €59.9m in legal costs.
The report records that during the 12 months of last year, the SCA's estimated liability last year increased by €167m rising from €5.18 billion at the end of 2023 to €5.35 billlion at the end of last year in connection to 10,968 active claims.
The estimated liability was made up of €3.14 billion in "catastrophic" clinical claims; "other" clinical claims of €1.1 billion and "general" claims of €1.02 billion.
The report states that "catastrophic injury claims, including some new species of claims, due to their high value, are the main driver behind this increase".
It states that "although clinical claims comprised only 37%of the overall number of active claims at end-2024, they comprise 81% of the overall estimated outstanding liability'.
The report states that "this is primarily due to the higher levels of settlements and awards associated with clinical negligence claims when compared with general claims and the very high level of settlements in the resolution of infant cerebral palsy and other catastrophic injury claims".
56% of claims resolved by the SCA in 2024 were resolved without court proceedings being served, compared with 55% in 2023. The SCA paid damages in 59% of all cases resolved in 2024, compared with 58% in 2023.
Just over 2% of cases resolved by the SCA in 2024 were the subject of a court judgment.
The SCA is part of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) and the figures are contained in the SCA section of the NTMA 2024 annual report.
The report states that "the SCA strongly favours mediation, where possible to resolve claims, as an alternative to the formal court process".
It states that "mediation is particularly suitable for complex clinical claims. 43% of claims concluded by the clinical claims team in 2024, and where damages were paid, involved a mediation process, compared with 40% in 2023 and 32% in 2022".
The report states that the SCA is managing a number of different mass actions against the State and of the total 10,968 active claims at end-2024, 1,138 or 10% - were in relation to mass actions.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
