Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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415. To ask the Minister for Health the number of persons that have applied for compensation from the Hepatitis C and HIV Tribunal; the number that have been paid; the number that are outstanding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37336/24]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal was established on a non-statutory basis in December 1995 and was put on a statutory footing in November 1997 by means of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal Act. An amending Act was passed in 2002 extending the remit of the Tribunal to include HIV. The 2002 Act also introduced additional heads of claim for the dependants of infected persons – loss of consortium, dependency losses, loss of society, post-traumatic stress disorder/nervous shock and future care claims.

As of 20 September 2024, the Tribunal had registered 5,060 separate applications. I am informed that due to the nature of the legislation some applicants will have submitted more than one application.

Compensation payments are made as a result of a Tribunal award or, if this is appealed, by High Court Order. I am advised by the Tribunal that the current number of payments made in the respective categories are:

The Tribunal continues to make progress in reducing the number of outstanding claims and has reduced this number from 246 to 176 in the past 12 months while receiving 17 new applications in this period.

It should be noted that the figure for remaining claims plus paid claims does not equal received claims due to factors including some claims being adjourned generally with liberty to re-enter or claims being withdrawn.