Departmental Schemes

Tuesday, 14 February 2023

Questions (488)

David Cullinane

Question:

488. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Justice the number and details of compensation or redress schemes put in place by his Department since 1998, in tabular form; the number of claims made; the total cost of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6466/23]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Justice

It has not been possible to collate the information requested in the time allowed.I will write to the Deputy directly when the information is to hand.

The following deferred reply was received under Standing Order 51.

I refer to Parliamentary Question No. 488 to my Department, which was for answer on 14 February 2023, and in which you requested the number and details of compensation or redress schemes put in place by my Department since 1998, in tabular form; the number of claims made; the total cost of the scheme; and if I will make a statement on the matter. As you will recall, the information you requested could not be obtained in the time available and I undertook to contact you again. Please find a response to this question provided below for your consideration.

Details of compensation or redress schemes put in place by my Department for the years requested are set out below.

Magdalen Scheme

The table below sets out the payments made by my Department under the Magdalen Scheme from 2014 to 2019. The Scheme transferred to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in 2020 following a transfer of function.

							Magdalen Fund
Year	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	Total
No of recipients	494	156	61	23	33	156	923
Total value of Awards	17,985,079	5,054,672	2,130,304	813,406	1,367,310	4,016,958	31,367,729
Legal Fees	184,879	39,832	26,368	67,676	237,729	667,371	1,223,855
Other Costs*	352,642	360,931	243,599	69,309	439,265	227,615	1,693,360
Total cost of Scheme	18,522,600	5,455,435	2,400,271	950,391	2,044,303	4,911,943	34,284,944

*Other costs include the salary costs and travel and subsistence of the staff working on the scheme as well as the running costs of the office.

The Deputy may wish to note that payments detailed above include those made for the original scheme, those included under an addendum to the scheme in 2018 and also cases reviewed by Senior Counsel Mary O’Toole. Therefore some recipients may be included in more than one year and have payments spanning over several years.

The Remembrance Commission

The Remembrance Commission was established in 2003, to administer a scheme of acknowledgment, assistance and remembrance for victims of the Northern Ireland conflict, and their families, in this jurisdiction. The Commission continued with this work until 2008 and administered acknowledgement payments, economic hardship payments and medical payments for victims’ families and those who were seriously injured in Troubles-related incidents in this jurisdiction. Payments were also made by the Commission to victim support groups for the purpose of meeting the counselling needs of victims and members of surviving families. The Commission also funded memorials.

The Commission received 559 applications for payments in respect of 123 people who were killed and 106 who were injured in conflict related incidents. The Commission spent €7.435 million during its term of office.