Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 489: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of members of the Garda Síochána who have been compensated in the past ten years regarding their involvement in shooting incidents; the reason there is such a delay with respect to impending cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20948/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Since 1995, almost 3,000 Garda compensation files have been opened under the provisions of the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Acts 1941 and 1945. The information requested by the Deputy with regard to shooting incidents in the past ten years is not readily available. The information could be obtained only by the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of staff time and resources and, accordingly, cannot be ascertained within the timeframe for answering this question.

In general, there is no one reason why delays may occur in the progressing of an application for compensation under the Acts. A backlog of applications occurred a number of years ago due initially to two judicial review cases which changed the manner in which claims are processed and then because of the death of the Garda surgeon and the time taken in replacing him with the Garda chief medical officer.

Delays may also occur from the late submission by a member of his or her application to my Department. The initial delay in making the application by a member may range from over three months to several years following the date of the incident. The majority of late applications are from one to three years, approximately.

There are also delays in receiving all medical reports, particularly final medical reports from the applicants or their legal advisers. It is the practice of the Garda chief medical officer not to give an appointment to see the applicant until all relevant medical reports, including final medical reports, have been received in order that a comprehensive report can be formulated.

Within my Department it can take time to make necessary additional inquiries because of the seriousness of the injuries received and the circumstances of the incident. However, every effort is made to keep administrative delays to a minimum. I agree that applications for compensation under the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Acts should be dealt with within a reasonable timeframe and that delays in processing applications for compensation should be avoided where possible. In this regard, my Department has taken steps to devote additional staff resources to deal with such applications.

Within my area of responsibility, I am taking steps to establish a Garda Síochána compensation tribunal, along the lines recommended by the committee set up in 1997 to review and make recommendations on the efficiency and effectiveness of the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Acts 1941 and 1945.

The background to this initiative is that the committee set up in 1997 consisted of representatives from the Departments of Finance and Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Chief State Solicitor's office, the Attorney General's office, Garda management and two Garda associations — the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors and the Garda Representative Association. A medical practitioner who had experience of life assurance work was also on the committee which was chaired by an independent chairman. The committee presented its report to the then Minister on 28 August 1997.

The committee made 14 recommendations which included the repeal of the existing Acts and the setting up of a new Garda Síochána compensation tribunal on a statutory basis. The tribunal will operate along the same lines as the criminal injuries compensation tribunal, the main difference being that gardaí would be compensated for "pain and suffering". It is envisaged that trainee gardaí who suffer malicious injuries prior to attestation would be covered under the new scheme and that claims already refused under the existing Acts as being minor would be allowed go before the tribunal.

The establishment of a Garda compensation tribunal has been agreed by the Garda staff associations. My Department is in consultation with the law officers about certain issues arising from the introduction of a compensation tribunal.