In my reply to PQ No. 238 of 6th February, 2014, I set out the payments, surpluses and deficits pertaining to the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal for the years 2007-2010. As stated in the reply, there was an error in the published accounts for 2009 which led to the Surplus/(Deficit) carried forward to 2010 being listed as a surplus of €106,672,203 rather than a deficit of €8,339,616. This arose from a clerical error whereby the Administrative Costs only were included as the Total Payments figure. As pointed out previously, the error was corrected in the 2010 Accounts and I do not propose to have an audit undertaken on the matter.
All awards and costs of the Tribunal are paid by my Department on behalf of the Tribunal. As each year progresses my Department recoups these costs from the two Special Accounts established under Sections 10 and 11 of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Acts 1997 and 2002. The Hepatitis C Compensation Scheme is demand led and it is difficult to accurately forecast payments within calendar years. Furthermore, there is a timing issue between the making of payments by my Department on behalf of the Tribunal and the recoupment of such funds from the Special Accounts established under the Acts.
