Ms Caron McCaffrey:

I can assist the Deputy in that regard. There was a case that went as far as the Supreme Court in regard to the lack of in-cell sanitation in Mountjoy Prison. That case was allowed on appeal and damages in the sum of €7,500 were awarded. The legal costs involved in that case were very significant. The State Claims Agency manages these claims on behalf of the Prison Service. In February 2020, the State Claims Agency put in place a specific scheme to address the number of claims that had been made in this respect. To give an update on the figures, as of now 2,773 claims have been received, of which 2,040 have been concluded, so there has been very good progress in respect of that scheme. An important point to note in regard to the scheme is that damages have been capped at a maximum of €7,500. There are three different categories or levels of compensation depending on whether a person was on a restricted regime and sharing a cell, on an open regime and sharing a cell or in their own cell. Importantly, the legal costs have also been capped and that relates to the level of award that is granted. The maximum legal costs that will be paid in respect of a claim is €1,700 and the minimum for compensation awards at the lower end of the scheme is €1,000.

It has been a very successful scheme. Certainly, if we look at the legal costs that were attached to the original case that was litigated in the courts, the expenditure is far less than that. The State Claims Agency at the beginning of the process in regard to in-cell sanitation claims put a contingent liability of €37.7 million against the claims. Now, because of the success of the scheme, it looks like the liability to the State will be in the order of €15 million. Therefore, the scheme that has been put in place has been very successful. There has been good engagement with both plaintiffs and their solicitors and the expectation is that that scheme will be concluded, hopefully, before the end of this year.