Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 6 Feb 1990

Vol. 395 No. 3

Written Answers. - Criminal Injuries Compensation.

Dermot Ahern

Ceist:

141 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice, in respect of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal, if he will give details of (i) the amount of compensation paid out in the years 1986 to 1989 inclusive (ii) the number of cases still on hand and (iii) the average delay between decision and payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Burke)

The details requested by the Deputy are as follows:

(i) The amount of compensation paid out in respect of awards made by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal for the years 1986 to 1989 inclusive is as follows:

Year	Amount of Compensation Paid
	£
1986	2,765,136
1987	2,606,119
1988	5,938,752
1989 (provisional)	2,340,470

(ii) As of 31 January 1990 there were 2,354 cases on hand, at different stages of processing.

(iii) There is a delay at present, between the date of acceptance of an award and actual payment, of the order of 18 months.

The provision in the Estimates for the current year for payments under the scheme of compensation for personal injuries criminally inflicted is £2 million. The provision in 1989 was also £2 million but savings on other subheads in the Vote for the Minister for Justice were used to enable the increased payments (£2.34 million) to be made in that year.

The amount to be provided for any service in the Estimates for any year is decided on the basis of the requirements of the particular service, the competing demands for other services and the overall budgetary position.