Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the progress this Bill has made, especially as it is primarily concerned with providing a new compensation scheme to repeal and replace the current expensive and slow approach that has not been fit for purpose for some time. It is clear from experience that the legitimate claims of members of An Garda Síochána were not being addressed in a fair and timely manner. We know, for example, that the current Acts make a distinction between the injuries of a minor and a non-minor nature.

The Bill before us removes this distinction and ensures that all injuries inflicted as a result of a malicious incident are covered by the new scheme. Of course, the vast majority of gardaí go about their business without being subjected to assault or attacks of a very serious nature. However, in 2019, for example, 723 incidents of various types of assault on gardaí were recorded. This rose very slightly to 725 in 2020.

The job is not an easy one and it often ends up involving the need for a great level of restraint and training. Gardaí are not only enforcers of the peace but increasingly they also act in a limited way as first responders to very serious mental health incidents. Information supplied to me earlier this year following a number of parliamentary questions I submitted revealed that from 2018 to 2022 members of the Garda had to intervene and detain people under the Mental Health Act 2001 almost 15,000 times. That is an astonishing number of interventions.

I also specifically asked the Minister for the number of Garda interventions involving persons self-harming or harming others due to mental illness over the course of that period of time. Garda authorities confirmed to me that in 2018 alone, 4,002 incidents were recorded on the PULSE system under the "Mental Act detained under" category and that this rose to 4,816 incidents in 2019. In 2020 this figure has had risen substantially to 5,757 incidents. In the reply to the parliamentary question the Minister further indicated to me that Garda authorities had informed her that training with regard to dealing with persons facing mental health emergencies is also given to armed support units during their basic training. This includes a detailed course on dealing with hostage barricade suicide incidents, the vast majority of which according to the Garda involve people experiencing mental health emergencies.

This should make it clear to all that gardaí are often placed in situations that may give rise to attack but not all of which are malicious. Some may be due to having to respond to a serious mental health incident. These numbers indicate that there is an overwhelming gap in preventive mental health supports that have developed over the lifetime of successive governments. Garda members, while empathetic and dedicated, are not mental health professionals. Their primary duty is to enforce the law and protect the communities that they serve. Increasingly, however, they are finding themselves on the sharp end of having to intervene in incidents which have only developed because of a lack of services, in this case a lack of mental health services.

They may find themselves being heavily criticised for what are essentially problems not of their making. This entire situation is grossly unfair not only to Garda members but more importantly to the many thousands of vulnerable mentally ill people who risk being criminalised because they do not receive the kind of support they need. In this context, it is only right and proper that any garda who faces assault or injuries with malicious intent should have recourse open to them and indeed to their families if the worst-case scenario arises.

Section 8(2) of the Bill deals with this and other related matters. That is very welcome but particularly the provision within that subsection which outlines in detail the person or persons who may take an application for compensation under the Bill. In the case of death, for example, the dependants of the member of former member, including a spouse or civil partner, a child or stepchild, a parent or grandparent, or a brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister, may make a claim for compensation once they were wholly or partly dependent on the deceased person and have suffered a loss as a result of death. That is significant as it accepts and protects the reality that the family members of gardaí are disproportionately exposed to the loss of their loved one because of the nature of their work.

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