Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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163. To ask the Minister for Health if his officials have achieved a budget underspend on the Hepatitis C compensation tribunal for this past year in the region of €30 million; the nature of this budget surplus; and if the source of the saving is associated with recovered costs from previous years, recently discovered administration improvements or a restriction of awards being paid to the victims. [28592/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The allocations in respect of the Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Tribunal under Vote 38 Department of Health in 2013 were €24.786m under Subhead F3 (Payments to a Special Account established under Section 10 of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Acts 1997 and 2002) and €3.849m under Subhead F4 (Payments to a Reparation Fund established under Section 11 of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Acts 1997 and 2002). Spending under these subheads was €21.2m and €3m respectively, giving a total of €24.2m, which represents a saving of €4.435 on the combined allocation of €28.635.

The Hepatitis C and HIV Compensation Scheme is a demand led scheme and it is difficult to accurately forecast payments within calendar years. The number of cases giving rise to payments has declined in recent years.