John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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691. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the process and timeline for giving effect to amendments to the Personal Injuries Guidelines; if he will commit to formal stakeholder consultation in advance of publication of the Bill; if the general scheme will be referred for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66256/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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On the 17 September, as required by section 7 of the Judicial Council Act 2019, I laid the revised personal injury guidelines before the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Prior to the laying of the documents, I consulted Ministerial colleagues and the Attorney General in relation to the proposed increase in award amounts contained in the Judicial Council’s proposals. While there were concerns that any delay in the adoption of new guidelines could lead to the courts being invited to depart from the guidelines and to seek higher awards reflecting the effect of inflation, to be applied at the discretion of the Court, I was also conscious of concerns raised in relation to potential inflationary pressures.

Therefore, it is my intention not to bring a Resolution before the Houses seeking the approval of the guidelines at this time. In effect, this means that the amended Guidelines cannot come into effect and the existing Guidelines will remain in place. In addition, I have received Government approval to draft a general scheme of a Bill to amend the Judicial Council Act 2019 to make reviews of the Personal Injuries Guidelines more comprehensive and transparent. The General Scheme of the Bill will be referred for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny.