asked the Minister for Justice the terms of reference of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal; and the year of its establishment.
671.
Written Answers. - Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.
670.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of claims made to the Criminal Justice Compensation Tribunal, the number of claims accepted in full, the number of claims accepted in part, and the number rejected, for each year since its establishment.
672.
asked the Minister for Justice the damages awarded by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal in each year since its establishment.
673.
asked the Minister for Justice where compensation forms for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal are available.
674.
asked the Minister for Justice if he will make claim forms for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal available in Garda stations, post offices, legal aid centres and public offices of the Departments of Health and Social Welfare.
Limerick East): I propose to take Questions Nos. 670 to 674, inclusive, together. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal was established in 1974 to operate the non-statutory scheme of compensation for personal injuries criminally inflicted. The scheme which is a detailed document and constitutes what no doubt the Deputy has in mind by “terms of reference” was laid before each House of the Oireachtas on 7 February 1974 and may be consulted in the Library. The tribunal is required by paragraph 19 of the scheme to make annual reports to the Minister for Justice which are to be presented to both Houses of the Oireachtas. Such reports have been presented for each year of the tribunal's operations up to and including 1981 and provide information as to the compensation awarded and the manner in which claims were dealt with up to and including that year. As regards the years 1982 and 1983 the total amount of compensation awarded was £2,599,745 and £3,490,224 respectively. The numbers of applications received were 1,112 and 1,417. Applications were dealt with as follows:
|
Awards made |
Applications rejected |
Applications withdrawn |
|
|
1982 |
450 |
93 |
25 |
|
1983 |
851 |
138 |
185 |
Statistics are not available under the exact headings requested by the Deputy.
Application forms are available from the tribunal. I am not aware that this leads to any hardship since the forms will be sent or given out in response to a simple letter or a telephone call — or, for anybody who happens to be near at hand, to a personal caller. While I would not exclude the possibility of some other small number of offices keeping the forms as well, if a real need for doing so were shown, the Deputy will appreciate from the relatively small numbers who apply that it would involve a wholly disproportionate amount of administrative waste for such forms to be stocked in offices as suggested, the staff of which would have the task of storing and keeping them available on the off-chance that somebody might, sometime, look for one.