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State Claims Agency

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 30 July 2020

Thursday, 30 July 2020

Questions (606)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

606. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Defence if he will provide a schedule of the active and settled legal cases the State Claims Agency is handling on behalf of his Department in the past six years to date in 2020; the stage they are at; the general nature of the claim; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20727/20]

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Written answers

The Deputy will be aware that the State Claims Agency (SCA) has delegated authority to manage personal injury and property damage claims taken against the Minister for Defence.

In cases where the State is considered liable or which involve an apportionment of liability as between the State and the claimant, the SCA's approach is to settle such cases expeditiously in so far as it is possible to do so on reasonable terms. In cases where liability is fully disputed by the State, all necessary resources are applied to defending such claims robustly.

The Department's records indicate that as at 29th July 2020, the SCA is managing 517 claims on behalf of the Minister for Defence that are at various stages of proceedings. With regard to a specific breakdown of active and settled legal cases that the SCA is handling in the past 6 years to date, this information is not held by the Department in that format. This information has been requested from the SCA and I have been advised that the information cannot be compiled within the timeframe to answer this Parliamentary Question. I will revert to the Deputy when further information is made available to me.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51
I refer to my reply to Parliamentary Question No. 606 of 30 July 2020 in which I advised the Deputy that the information sought regarding the breakdown of active and settled legal cases that the State Claims Agency (SCA) is handling in the past 6 years to date is not held by my Department in this format.
The Deputy will recall that I also advised her that my Department had requested this information from the SCA but that it could not be compiled in the timeframe to answer the Parliamentary Question. The SCA has since reverted with the following information. This information shows the position up to the 31 July 2020, whereas the initial reply to the parliamentary question reflected the number of active cases indicated by Department of Defence records as at 29 July 2020.
The data was extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and shows the active and closed claims managed by the SCA for the Department of Defence and Defence Forces.
I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
Department of Defence and Defence Forces active claims by year

Location

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020 (July)

Department of Defence

14

25

7

7

4

4

Defence Forces

311

300

345

471

549

514

Grand Total

325

325

352

478

553

518

Department of Defence and Defence Forces resolved claims by year

Location

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020 (July)

Department of Defence

3

6

5

1

5

1

Defence Forces

80

89

83

92

93

81

Grand Total

83

95

88

93

98

82

Department of Defence and Defence Forces active claims by claim status as of 31/07/2020.

Location

CM Status

Number of claims

Department of Defence

Claim Under Investigation

1

Claim Litigation

1

Trial

2

Total

4

Defence Forces

Claim Received

7

Claim Under Investigation

174

Claim Litigation

271

Trial

28

Claim Conclusion Started

34

Total

514

Grand total

518

Definitions:
National Incident Management System (NIMS): Incidents (which include claims) are reported using the “National Incident Management System”. This is hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA) for the HSE, other Healthcare enterprises and State Authorities. An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint.
Claim Resolved Date: The date on which the claim has been finalised, i.e. All financials have been agreed (but not necessarily paid). There may be some outstanding payments to be processed.
CM Status: A Claims Manager perspective field which informs the CM of the current workflow status of the claim. Values present within this field include, for example "Alerted for CM Review", "Trial", "Claim Litigation", etc.
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