Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the steps taken to improve management of compensation claims against the Garda Síochána and by members of the Garda Síochána under the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Acts; if further reforms are planned, including amendments to legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9674/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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With respect to compensation claims against the Garda Síochána, section 48 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 simplifies matters for members of the public taking civil actions against members of the Garda Síochána. The section provides that the State is liable to an action for damages in respect of any damage resulting from an actionable wrong committed by a member of the Garda Síochána in the course of performing the member's functions under the Act as if the State were the employer of the member. As a result of the section it will no longer be necessary for a litigant to name the individual member of the Garda Síochána in the action. This section was commenced on 1 August 2005.

With respect to claims by members of the Garda Síochána the Deputy will be aware that each claim for compensation by a member of the Garda Síochána for malicious injuries received while on duty must be treated on its own merits. My Department is doing everything within its power to expedite and process these claims in a fair and efficient manner. In all cases, medical reports from the claimants' own doctors and the chief medical officer of the Garda Síochána are required before a final decision can made on a claim. As the Deputy will appreciate, these cases can take some time to reach a conclusion, given the nature of the injuries received.

In terms of reforming the process, the general form of a new compensation scheme has been agreed with the representative bodies of the Garda Síochána, and my Department is currently carrying out a regulatory impact analysis for its introduction. Following on from that I hope to bring a memorandum to Government for a new Garda Compensation Tribunal Bill and thereafter see its passage through the Oireachtas.