Vol. 421 No. 2
69 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Justice his views on whether a nine year delay in the payment of awards by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal is satisfactory; if he intends to provide any additional finance to speed up the payment of awards; if he will consider establishing a proper statutory scheme of compensation for innocent victims of crime; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I am informed by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal that, in the absence of any special circumstances giving rise to delays, applications currently being lodged with the tribunal are likely to be determined by a single member within a year of date of lodgement, that the waiting period, at present, for an appeal is 24 months and that awards of compensation currently being paid were accepted 11 months ago.
I am also informed by the tribunal that, while longer delays occurred in the case of some applications lodged in the past due to the large volume of applications made in the period 1980 to 1986, such delays are not of the order suggested by the Deputy except where factors outside the control of the tribunal are involved:
Such factors are: failure or delay on the part of the applicants or their legal representatives to provide the tribunal with the necessary evidence to support the claims or to agree dates for hearing of appeals; the need for the tribunal to await the resolution of associated criminal and/or civil actions; and the complexity of the injuries sustained giving rise to prolonged delays in the preparation and submission of final medical reports.
I have no proposals in regard to legislation to amend the existing scheme of compensation for personal injuries criminally inflicted.
The matter of additional funding for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal is kept under constant review in my Department. As in the case of all public services, funding for criminal injuries compensation has to be allocated on the basis of requirement, competing demands for other services and for the limited financial resources available and the overall budgetary situation. However, I would remind the Deputy that, in the years 1988 to 1991, in addition to the provisions made in the Annual Estimates, extra funding amounting to £8.96 million has been provided for the payment of compensation by means of Supplementary Estimates or by way of savings elsewhere in the Vote.
In all, a total of almost £16 million has been provided by the Exchequer in that four year period for the payment of awards of compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.
