I move:—
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Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £2,000 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1926, chun íocaíochtaí áirithe Cúitimh i dtaobh Leonta Pearsanta no Báis. |
That a sum not exceeding £2,000 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1926, for certain payments of compensation in respect of personal injuries or death. |
The amount of this Vote has decreased by a very large sum. In fact, it practically represents the last that will be seen in the Dáil of any applications for monies for personal injuries. Certain small recurrent payments will have to be made for some years, but they will be of very minor importance. There is a decrease of £585,000 in the amount asked for in sub-head (a). That is the sub-head under which the different cases between the date of the setting up of the first Dáil and the date of the Truce are dealt with.
Paragraph 4 of the working arrangement, arrived at immediately after the Treaty, provided that the British Government and the Saorstát should each pay the amount of compensation for personal injuries due in respect of their own supporters. That is, that there should be what is called a "back-to-back" arrangement. It is provided further that in the case of people who could not be shown to be supporters of either side — neutral cases — there should be a sharing of responsibility. There is a large number of cases in which enquiries have hardly yet been completed and in which the responsibility has hardly been arrived at, but the matter is really on the point of decision. Roughly one-half will be accepted as British, and the other half as Saorstát supporters.
Sub-head (b) deals with post-Truce cases. Under this sub-head the decrease is £272,000. The Saorstát Government is responsible for payment of the full amounts awarded by the Compensation (Personal Injuries) Committee in respect of deaths from injuries sustained between 12th July, 1921, and 12th May, 1923. This sub-head includes provision for about £4,000 for the payment of periodical allowances recommended by the Compensation (Personal Injuries) Committee. Although this will be a recurring charge, it will, I think, decrease fairly rapidly. In general the Compensation (Personal Injuries) Committee recommended the payment of lump sums, and there were only a comparatively small number of cases in which periodical payments were recommended.
There is a small item of ex-gratia payments made by the British Government to non-combatants who sustained injuries in Easter Week, 1916. That was part of the arrangements in regard to compensation which were arrived at by the British Government.
This Vote, as I said, is practically a disappearing one. There will probably be a very small amount, indeed, for next year. The Committee which was set up by the Executive Council to investigate personal injuries cases had a very heavy and thankless task. It is much more difficult to find a basis for making awards in dealing with personal injuries than in dealing with property cases, and it is much harder to satisfy the applicants. A great deal of criticism and a great many complaints have been made because large sums were not awarded in cases of death where people dying did not leave dependents. We frequently find the brothers and sisters of a man who was killed entering very strong protests at only being awarded a sum which was really meant to cover funeral expenses. A great number of these cases were brought to my notice personally with a view to having them referred back to the Committee for reconsideration. In dealing with these cases more than any others, I felt the difficult and thankless nature of the task that was undertaken by the Committee. If one looks at it without consideration, it does seem strange that a person should be awarded £500 for the destruction of a house and perhaps £50 for the loss of a son.
