asked the Minister for Justice the action, if any, he intends to take regarding the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin, who was seriously injured in an accident in Dublin in 1970, and subsequently deprived of an award of damages by a ruling of the Supreme Court that the driver of the offending car was at that time in a temporary coma and therefore not negligent; and if his Department are in a position to award any measure of compensation to the victim in this case.
Written Answers. - Dublin Car Accident.
349.
Our law of civil liability is based on the concept of negligence. The question of amending the law to provide that compensation should be paid to persons injured in circumstances where there is no negligence is one which has wide implications for the general law of civil liability—including the civil liability of motorists. In this regard I would refer the Deputy to my written reply to Questions 350 and 351 on today's Order Paper.
As regards the case in question the position is that an order of the High Court in 1969 awarding damages of £7,200 was reversed on appeal in the Supreme Court on the issue of negligence. While I am naturally sympathetic to the plight of individuals who fail to obtain compensation in the courts because they cannot establish negligence, the position is that there are no funds available to me out of which such persons could be compensated by the State. Furthermore any payment by the State to one person who fell into this category would have implications for other persons who, over the years, were unable to get compensation for loss or injury because they could not establish negligence, whether their cases were brought to court or not.