Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my opening remarks, the assessment of each application for compensation is dependent on receipt of reports from the Garda authorities, including the Garda chief medical officer, and on receipt of information from the applicant's legal representatives. On average, both of these parts of the process take up more time than the decision-making process undertaken within the Department. Nonetheless, the Minister has assured me that she is very conscious of the current caseload under the Garda Compensation Acts and the pressing need to reduce the number of outstanding cases in her Department.

The Minister has asked her officials to take steps to address this situation as a matter of urgency. It is also the intention to bring transparency to this process through the collation of statistics relating to the compensation process, which will then be published on the Department's website. I cannot comment on any individual case as I do not have access to any individual's information. I acknowledge the Deputy's concern and interest in this matter and while the Dáil may be rising today, I will be seeing the Minister for Justice and Equality over the next few days and I will make her aware that the Deputy raised this issue in the House and ask that she contact the Deputy directly in relation to the matter.

See this speech in context