The Garda Síochána (Compensation) Acts, 1941 and 1945 provide for a scheme of compensation for members of An Garda Síochána who are maliciously injured in the course of their duty or in relation to the performance of their duties as members of An Garda Síochána and for the dependants of members who have died from injuries maliciously inflicted on them.
Under the Acts, as Minister I have the responsibility to approve or refuse applications for compensation to be put forward to the High Court, having regard to the circumstances of the case and the legislation. This assessment is discharged by officials of my Department. Before deciding if an applicant should be authorised to apply to the High Court for compensation in respect of the injury, all medical reports submitted by the applicant, together with a report on the incident by An Garda Síochána and a report on the injury by the Garda Chief Medical Officer must be considered. The process of progressing an application for compensation from the date of its receipt to the date it is authorised, may take a considerable period of time. Once an application is approved, it is for the individual concerned to apply to the High Court for compensation.
The Deputy will appreciate that for these reasons, cases relating to which awards are made in a given year do not correspond to applications for compensation received in the same year.
I can inform the Deputy however that the number of applications received under the Garda Síochána Compensation Acts 1941 and 1945 in the last five years are as follows:
|
Year
|
No of Applications received under the Garda Síochána Compensation Acts 1941 and 1945
|
|
2015
|
191
|
|
2016
|
204
|
|
2017
|
181
|
|
2018
|
161
|
|
2019 (to 30 October)
|
124
|
I can confirm to the Deputy that compensation awards are paid from the Garda Vote.
I am informed that the amounts paid under the Scheme and legal costs arising in the period 2015- September 2019 are set out in the following table:
|
Year
|
Number of cases Completed
|
Awards paid (€m)
|
Costs Paid (€m)*
|
|
Year
|
Number of cases Completed
|
Awards paid (€m)
|
Costs Paid (€m)*
|
|
2015
|
93
|
€3.60
|
€1.30
|
|
2016
|
66
|
€4.70
|
€1.60
|
|
2017
|
111
|
€5.80
|
€2.00
|
|
2018
|
126
|
€4.60
|
€1.80
|
|
to September 2019
|
68
|
€5.60
|
€0.81
|
*Legal costs paid in any particular year do not necessarily correspond to the awards made in that year.
Separately from Garda Compensation cases under the 1941 and 1945 Acts, as set out in the above, certain claims are managed by the State Claims Agency. I am informed by the State Claims Agency that active claims identified on the State Claims Agency National Incident Management System (NIMS) for Garda personnel for the years 2015 to 2019 are as follows.
|
Year End/Period End
|
Number of Active Claims
|
|
2015
|
123
|
|
2016
|
133
|
|
2017
|
138
|
|
2018
|
151
|
|
2019 (at 30 September 2019
|
159
|
I am further informed by the State Claims Agency that the following table sets out the total amount paid in damages in relation to claims by Garda personnel for the years 2015 to 2019.
|
Year of Transaction
|
Total Paid
|
|
2015
|
€864,034
|
|
2016
|
€834,376
|
|
2017
|
€726,982
|
|
2018
|
€1,013,957
|
|
2019 (at 30 September 2019)
|
€237,431
|
|
Total
|
€3,676,781
|
