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Select Committee on Justice díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 28 Jun 2022

Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021: Committee Stage

I welcome the Minister of State, the departmental officials and all who are present. We are meeting today for Committee Stage of the Garda Síocána (Compensation) Bill 2021. There are 35 sections and there are no amendments so this should be a relatively straightforward consideration.

I wish to mention something. As the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, mentioned on Second Stage, there are a few minor amendments needed to the Bill, which she intends to introduce on Report Stage. These relate to sections 11 and 16 and the requirement for the form of the application to be prescribed by way of regulation. It is proposed to remove this requirement and to allow the Garda Commissioner to determine this. This is because the form will be closely linked to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, form, which is subject to changes from time to time. It would be too difficult to make regulations each time there are changes to the PIAB form.

Department officials are also examining whether a small technical amendment may be required in section 2(2) due to the likely commencement of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. I wanted to make Deputies aware that this is another amendment which we may need to introduce on Report Stage. The Minister had hoped to have these amendments drafted by now but it has not been possible to have them ready in time.

I wish to address the question of the extension of the scheme to civilian staff of An Garda Síochána, which was raised by some Senators and Deputies. The Minister and I have looked at this matter and officials have engaged with stakeholders on an extension to the scheme. A number of difficulties have arisen in this regard due to the status of civilian staff as civil servants. The interaction between this scheme and existing occupational injuries schemes and supports that already apply to them is not straightforward. To attempt to extend the scheme now will delay the passage of the Bill significantly. We all can agree that there is a need to progress this Bill as soon as possible, as reform of the Garda compensation scheme is long past due. This issue can be re-examined again in the context of another Bill and will be kept under review.

I thank the Minister of State. We will move on to the consideration of the Bill. The Minister of State's comments on potential amendments on Report Stage have been noted.

Sections 1 to 35, inclusive, agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment.

We do not always pass business as quickly, but when we do we can be very efficient. I thank the members for their engagement. This is a short but important Bill. A number of members of the committee contributed to the Second Stage debate, so there is interest in the Bill. Even if it passed smoothly today, it is certainly not for want of an interest because we contributed on Second Stage.

I thank the Minister of State and his team.

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