Hospital apologises as Cork girl, 2, awarded €5m interim settlement over brain damage

Two-year-old Kitty-Mae Hayes with her mother Lisa Ronan (left) and Declan Hayes (right) after she settled her action against Children's Health Ireland. Picture: Collins Courts.

A leading paediatric hospital has unreservedly apologised in the High Court to the parents of a two-year-old Cork girl who suffered brain damage after she was transferred there for care after her birth.

Little Kitty-Mae Hayes from Rosscarbery, the High Court heard, has the highest level of cerebral palsy, visual impairment and epilepsy and her counsel told the court of “repeated egregious failings in care at the Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) Hospital, Crumlin, which led to devastating consequences.” The apology from the CHI interim chief executive, Fiona Murphy, was read out as Kitty Mae settled her High Court action with an interim payment of €5million.