Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 11 October 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality
Wards of Court: Discussion
9:00 am
Mr. James Finn:
That is correct, yes, but some of those cases go back to the 1960s and many go back to the 1970s. We took on the role of looking at all our cases. I refer again to the catastrophic injury awards. The principle behind them, and this is the major reason periodical payments legislation is being introduced, is that the fund is to last for the lifetime of the person, no shorter than that, and no longer than that. The reality is that it is not a science. In fact, we have a significant number of cases where, due to the level of payment, the funds are growing. The idea is not that the fund should grow but it is that the fund should last the lifetime of the person, and that is not a science.
No comments