Liz McManus
Question:209 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Justice the number of claims for damages made to her Department from members of the public in relation to vehicle damage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [617/94]
Written Answers. - Vehicle Damage Claims.
Departmental records are based at present on the number of incidents involving damage to Garda vehicles that occur during a calendar year, which may or may not involve a vehicle owned or driven by a member of the public. Regrettably, it is not possible to extract accurate details of the type sought by the Deputy from that material — even with the expenditure of considerable staff resources on a manual inspection of individual files.
Generally speaking, I am aware that the question of settlement of liability in these cases can take some time involving as they do the Garda authorities, insurance companies, solicitors, my Department and the Chief State Solicitor's office. My Department is currently carrying out a review of the administrative procedures relating to traffic accidents involving Garda vehicles. The purpose of this review is to revise those procedures in order to minimise the cost of these accidents to the State and the adverse impact they can have on the members of the public whose vehicles may be damaged in accidents with official Garda vehicles. When the revised procedures are in place it should be possible to provide the type of information sought by the Deputy.