The father of a Monaghan boy who needs 24-hour care due to mistakes at his birth says the family "waited a long time" for an apology and €4.6 million interim payment from the HSE.
Tadhg McKenna, who is from Emyvale in Co Monaghan and has cerebral palsy, was born at Cavan General Hospital on 31st August 2017.
Yesterday, the HSE apologised after Tadhg's family brought a High Court medical negligence claim over the circumstances of the birtth.
The executive has also made a €4.6 million interim payment, The Irish Times reports.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Tadhg's father Damien McKenna said the birth saw an "avalanche of mistakes" - and the family had been waiting a long time for the case to be resolved.
Damien explained: "Tadhg is pushing on three years of age... a beautiful little fella. He's an absolute fighter... we're just so proud of him every day.
"He's 24-hour care - and I mean he's 24-hour care. We were living in a three-bed semi... we had to move to a bigger house because of all the equipment.
"You run to the toilet and you run back. We have night nurses that come in at nighttime. There's a bed beside his bed... they ring the bell, and there are seizures, respiratory attacks, things like that, and you have to come running down."
Damien said the family's legal team was "brilliant" for their work in securing a resolution to the case against the HSE.
He explained: "We we were writing to the HSE for two and a half years, and they basically ignored us. They waited until near enough the last half hour before we got the full liability.
"It's bittersweet, but is nice to have."
He said the family would have been 'lost' without the support of the Jack & Jill Foundation, and also paid tribute to the Tadhg's nurses for all their work supporting the two-year-old.
