Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 1 Oct 1998

Vol. 494 No. 3

Written Answers - Personal Injury Claims.

Jim Higgins

Ceist:

241 Mr. Higgins (Mayo) asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the number of claims for personal injuries made against his Department between 1990 and 1997; the number of these claims in respect of which compensation was paid; and the total amount paid for each of these years. [18193/98]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

The information requested by the Deputy in respect of the number of claims for personal injuries made against this Department between the years 1990 and 1997 is as follows:

Year	Claims Made	Settled	Costs (including Legal Expenses) £
1990	5	–	–
1991	9	1	7,674
1992	6	4	8,830
1993	5	4	18,288
1994	4	1	9,226
1995	3	8	133,720
1996	3	7	60,541
1997	4	8	57,285

The above figures do not include the costs of claims which were made prior to 1990 but which were settled in subsequent years. Due to the time taken to process claims, the number of claims settled in any given year will not normally correspond with the number of claims made in that year.