Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)
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657. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the compensation scheme for survivors of the Stardust fire; the timeline for the expected delivery of a compensation scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25321/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Following engagement with legal representatives of the families of the victims of the Stardust fire, the Government last August approved a two-phased approach to redress arrangements.

The first phase has prioritised the families of the 48 victims who so tragically died in the fire. It was developed in consultation and agreement with the families' legal representatives. It provided for a single, non-scaled, ex gratia payment for each of the 48 people who were unlawfully killed. Implementation of this phase is at an advanced stage, with payments having been made to most applicants. I would like to assure the Deputy that my officials continue to engage with legal representatives of the small number of remaining applicants, to ensure that all payments are completed without delay.

A second exceptionality phase, which is to be examined in respect of survivors, will take into account that compensation awards were made previously by the Stardust Victims’ Compensation Tribunal established in 1985. Officials from my Department have commenced work to develop proposals for this phase and I look forward to examining the outputs from this work in the near future.