The term of office of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal Chair and members expired on 31 December 2020. A comprehensive recruitment and selection process was undertaken in 2020 to fill the vacancies. In August 2020, expressions of interest were sought from practising barristers and solicitors for the part-time roles of Ordinary Member and/or Chair.
A Board was appointed to undertake the selection process. The Board assessed the 108 applications received and held individual meetings with 57 shortlisted applicants. The Board presented its recommendations which I received in December 2020. I have recently approved the recommendations made by the Board, including the formation of a panel from which future appointments up to June 2025 may be made. Seven offers of appointment have been made to those on the panel to the position of Chair and Ordinary Members, as is provided for under paragraph 17 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. As noted in the application booklet, the number of Tribunal Members is under review with a view to increasing membership.
Officials in my Department are currently liaising with the proposed appointees to obtain the necessary formal acceptance and confirmation of tax clearance. It is expected that this process will be finalised very shortly, upon which the warrants of appointment will be issued and the new Tribunal membership will officially take up duty.
Six Departmental staff act as secretariat to the Tribunal. These staff receive applications and gather the necessary information from applicants and other stakeholders such as medical reports and the Garda report. When all required information is ready, Tribunal staff send the file to the Tribunal for consideration and decision. Where a decision is appealed, Tribunal staff make arrangements for a Tribunal appeal hearing.
In terms of the duration of the process, I am advised that it may take several years before an application for compensation is ready for submission to the Tribunal. Final Garda reports on the crime are required, as are the outcomes of any court cases initiated. In some cases, the extent of injuries suffered by the victim may not be known for some years and medical and other expert reports may be outstanding for a significant period. Sometimes, applicants may not reply to correspondence seeking required additional information. With certain claims, loss of earnings for consideration by the Tribunal may be complex, requiring employer reports, actuarial assessment and social welfare reports.
I can however assure the Deputy that applications made under the Scheme continue to be actively processed by the Tribunal and its supporting secretariat throughout 2020 with a total of 335 decisions being made during the year by Tribunal members on applications received. This was despite the practical difficulties presented by the current pandemic.
Finally, I can also advise the Deputy that I am currently considering the bringing of a range of reforms before Government for this long standing Scheme to better serve victims of crime by improving its efficiency and effectiveness.
