Irish Examiner view: An adversarial litigation system that needs reform 

The adversarial system which operates in Ireland means such cases are frequently stressful, costly, frightening, and intimidating for all parties — not to mention the fact that the lengthy timescales involved compound the various pressures on participants. Picture: Larry Cummins

Cases of alleged medical negligence feature regularly in media coverage, and little wonder. Such cases are often shocking in their details, with heartbreaking revelations that make readers sympathetic for the distressed families involved.

For those involved directly, the cases can take a serious toll. The adversarial system which operates in Ireland means such cases are frequently stressful, costly, frightening, and intimidating for all parties — not to mention the fact that the lengthy timescales involved compound the various pressures on participants.

On that front, the news that an interdepartmental working group is looking at ways to reduce costs in such cases is welcome, and mediation is figuring prominently as a possible alternative.

Certainly the comments in these pages yesterday of Mediators’ Institute of Ireland president Ber Barry-Murray would resonate with those who have had to endure lengthy court cases involving alleged medical negligence.

“I have seen across a table a consultant saying to a patient: ‘I’ve learned from you today.’ That is so powerful inside in a room,” said Ms Barry-Murray.

“Or for a patient to say: ‘It meant something for me to hear from you that you tried your best.’ Now how much of that is missing in the five years that people are waiting to go through court?”

Mediation can be used currently in such cases, but that process is not without its drawbacks. Sometimes it is offered just before the trial begins, while the State Claims Agency, which indemnifies the HSE, may propose a barrister already working for the HSE to act as a mediator. A completely independent mediator would obviously be a better option.

However, moving away from the current system would surely be a welcome move, as the confrontational aspect of that system is not improved by stressful delays and the
general opacity of the process. If a timely, agreed mediation system is acceptable to all sides, it is surely worth pursuing.

A warning from history

The death of Pearse McAuley has been reported in recent days. His body was found at home in Strabane in Co Tyrone, and the 59-year-old is believed to have died of natural causes.

McAuley will always be remembered for his part in the killing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe on duty in June 1996. He was part of an IRA group that killed Detective McCabe, and seriously injured his partner Detective Garda Ben O’Sullivan, during the attempted robbery of a post office in Adare in Co Limerick.

McAuley was convicted by the Special Criminal Court in 1999 of Detective McCabe’s manslaughter and jailed for 14 years. He was released from prison in 2009.

While in prison McAuley and other inmates sent letters to be read to the Sinn Féin ard fheis, and delegates responded with a standing ovation. On his release from prison, McAuley was collected by Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris.

McAuley returned to prison after attacking his then wife, Pauline Tully, on Christmas Eve 2014. He stabbed her 13 times that day and was jailed for 12 years. He served just over seven years for that attack.

At the time of the trial, Tully, now a Sinn Féin TD, said: “My youngest son has said he looked through the glass panel and witnessed his father putting the knife into me.”

Killing an on-duty garda is as blatant an attack on the values of a civil society as one can imagine. It is a signal of intent: The intent to overturn the rule of law in favour of whatever criminal enterprise is supported by the killers.

Stabbing a woman in view of her children is further evidence, if that were needed, that McAuley was a murderous thug, though even that description seems a considerable understatement.

The fact that he was held up as a hero in some quarters is an astounding denial of reality.

McAuley should exist now only as a warning from history, a reminder of a troubled period in our recent past when he and others like him were applauded and absolved by some for the vilest crimes imaginable.

That period should be distant and remote now but no doubt it remains fresh in the minds of Pauline Tully and her children, as well as the family of the late Jerry McCabe.

Royal vanishing act

Every time it looks as though a resolution seems to be looming in the case of Kate Middleton, the missing princess of Wales, this tangled narrative takes another unexpected turn.

After the infamous Mother’s Day photograph was dismissed by respected photographic agencies, the rumour mill continued to pump out wild theories about the princess disappearing from view. In recent days, a short clip of video footage surfaced online purporting to show her at a garden centre, though the quality of the footage hardly quelled the speculation online.

The grainy few seconds of video, filmed from some distance away, contrast sharply with the crystal-clear professionally produced images available of practically everyone else in the public eye. Relying on footage reminiscent of super 8 footage from the 1970s as a conclusive refutation of wild rumours is a bold move.

Is this whole affair a kind of modern art prank such as those beloved by the situationists in times past? The answer may be far more prosaic, unfortunately: That we are simply watching one of the worst public relations debacles in history, all of it occurring in real time.