I move:—
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £800 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1946, for Compensation and other Payments in respect of Personal Injuries sustained by persons, not as members of State Services, as a result of the dropping of bombs by foreign aircraft and of kindred incidents while the State is not engaged in war.
This Supplementary Estimate for £800 is being taken to enable compensation recovered from the German Government for personal injuries arising out of the Campile bombing on the 26th August, 1940, to be distributed among individual claimants. The German Government, who accepted responsibility for the Campile incident, were presented with a claim amounting to £15,000, of which £4,893 was in respect of personal injuries and the balance for damage to property. After negotiations, they accepted the claim at £12,000, of which £4,000 is available to meet payments in respect of personal injuries, and it was agreed that the payments should be met out of moneys made available under the powers conferred by the Emergency Powers (No. 335) Order, 1944. which provided for the collection by the State of debts due by Irish residents to persons in Germany. The full £12,000 has been recovered in this manner and has been paid into the Exchequer, as provided by Article 6 (c) of that Order.
As the money has been so paid into the Exchequer, the only method by which payments in respect of compensation can be made is via the Vote for Personal Injuries (Civilians) Compensation. The existing vote provision having been measured without reference to any disbursements of this kind, the authority of the Dáil is now being sought for a Supplementary Estimate to make good the balance of outlay not available by means of savings on the existing Vote. Payments will be made in individual cases pursuant to Article 34 of the Emergency Powers (Compensation for Personal Injuries) (Civilians) Scheme, 1942.