Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Many people contact the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality asking the committee to conduct investigations into legitimate grievances they have, either as individuals or as organisations. Unfortunately, the committee does not have the capacity to conduct investigations into everything.

By necessity, we must be selective about the issues in respect of which we decide to have public hearings and produce reports. I am very pleased that one of the areas the committee decided to inquire into and report on involved the issues raised regarding wards of court. We know from Deputy McGuinness that there have been previous inquiries by committees of this House into issues associated with wards of court. The Committee of Public Accounts conducted a number of inquiries in respect of it. We know that after our own inquiry, the National Safeguarding Committee produced a report on the wards of court system. I think everyone in this House agrees with its findings, namely, that the system is a 19th century system that is archaic and unsuitable for the 21st century. I commend the people who urged and requested the committee to conduct public hearings into this matter and I thank all of the individuals who came before the committee during our public hearings. What stands out most in my memory from those hearings were the families of the wards of court who came before us and told very gripping stories about how they found themselves in extremely difficult circumstances because of the great trauma they suffered and expressed their belief that the wards of court system did not serve them or their loved ones well.

We spend many hours in this House talking about personal injuries actions and how we need to reduce awards in such actions. Earlier today, we passed the Judicial Council Bill 2017 to establish personal injuries guidelines. In recent years, the assumption has taken hold that anyone taking a case in respect of a personal injuries claim has a questionable motive. If we want a more legitimate and balanced assessment of the issue of personal injuries claims, we need look no further than the people who unfortunately find themselves wards of court. The wards of court system operates to protect those who are unquestionably the most vulnerable in society. In many instances, they are young people who sustained catastrophic injuries at birth and need support and financial damages to ensure that they can maintain themselves throughout their lives. They are made wards of court and get a settlement of money as a result of negligence, admitted or otherwise, paid by another side. The reason they are made wards of court is their mental infirmity - the fact that they cannot manage their own affairs. The purpose of the wards of court system is to ensure that there is an independent, court based process whereby the affairs of these people can be independently managed.

Where conflict arises is in respect of the family members who sometimes feel they have been excluded from the wards of court process. Many of the issues that have arisen in respect of these cases can be traced to other issues aside from issues of concern in the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court. One of the problems is that if people are given an award of damages at a very young age for injuries sustained at a very young age, it can be extremely difficult for a court to calculate the level of damages that are required to sustain these people throughout their lives when it is not known at the time of the award how long their lives will be, the nature of the demands they face and the cost of inflation in years to come. Fortunately, in recent years, we have introduced legislation that will give effect to periodic payments. In many instances, a person who has been injured, goes to court and is awarded a sum of money by way of damages by that court can now receive periodic payments. The court will have a more accurate assessment of how much money is required for that person throughout his or her life so that he or she does not find himself or herself in a situation many people who came before us have found themselves. Let us talk about that situation. It can involve persons who were awarded a sum of money to ensure that they could be cared for throughout their lives finding themselves at a point in their lives where that money has simply been dissipated.

The committee heard much evidence about what happened to the money. There is no doubt that we received conflicting and diverging evidence as to whether the funds were managed prudently or effectively. The Minister spoke about the Mazars report. We heard from the families who have a different point of view on the competence of the management of the money. It was for that reason that we mentioned in our recommendations having heard conflicting and diverging evidence as to how prudently and effectively funds for wards of court have been managed. As a result, we made a recommendation that there should be a comprehensive audit of cases identified by the Justice for Wards group of funds where funds had been significantly depleted during the years of the financial crisis. In fact, we specified those years as the two years between 2007 and 2009. I do not know whether there was any financial mismanagement. The Mazars report seems to suggest that there was no mismanagement but credible evidence was put forward by the persons who appeared before the committee and it was on that basis that we made our recommendation. We also recommended that financial statements be provided to the wards on an annual basis or even more frequently. The Minister has indicated that this is now being done but we need to ensure it is done regularly and consistently.

We also called upon the various State agencies to work together to identify the individuals at risk and draw up contingency plans to provide for their essential needs, including healthcare and accommodation. This is something for which we have a real responsibility. If it is the case that wards of court find that their funds have dried up, the State has a responsibility to them and we need to ensure that they are protected throughout the remaining years of their lives. I note that we have spoken about the legislation that will establish the new design support service. It is imperative that this service is made effective and is properly funded and resourced so it can carry out the important functions required of it.

One of our recommendations was that the Attorney General be asked to consider whether the Comptroller and Auditor General could audit the funds in the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court. I note the Minister's comments and the advice of the Attorney General. I do not believe our recommendation could have gone any further than that. We said it was subject to the view of the Attorney General and it appears to be the case that these funds will not be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. This means, however, that we need some system in which the families have confidence to audit those funds on a frequent basis.

I note that we have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities but our recommendation on this matter emphasises that there are very many archaic aspects to the legislation on the Statute Book that still refer in archaic language to people suffering from lunacy. We must ensure this language is changed for good and does not come back.

I commend the families of the wards of court who appeared before the committee and I thank the committee for the work it did. We have limited powers as a committee. All we can do is have hearings and produce a report. We are not in control of the executive arm of Government. All we can do is make recommendations in respect of it. Some of the recommendations are being implemented and I urge the Minister to ensure that all of them are implemented as quickly as possible in order that we can provide some level of comfort to the people who find themselves in this very difficult position. We will never be able to provide them with the full level of comfort they want but we have a responsibility to try to provide as much comfort as we can.

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