Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the reply but it is not good enough. According to the Minister, the number of applications currently awaiting assessment in the Department has reduced from 317 to 286. The garda who contacted me lodged his claim five years ago. His claim has been with the Department of Justice and Equality since 2014, which is almost 18 months ago. The Garda authorities report and medical reports in respect of this claim have been made available to the Department, so there is no reason for it to be delayed.

I understand 900 claims have been made, 286 of which are now awaiting assessment in the Department. This means there are approximately 700 claims awaiting processing by the Garda authorities. I am calling on the Minister to speed up this process. As I said, the gardaí involved have mortgages and other loans and some of them are unable to work. They are dependent on their compensation and it is not good enough that they have to wait years for it. In regard to the Minister's statement that the number of cases currently awaiting assessment has reduced to 286, five years is too long to have to wait for payment of compensation. The Minister needs to ensure this process is speeded up so that these gardaí can be provided with their compensation quicker, in particular given all of their medical records have been made available to the Department.

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