DAMAGE TO PROPERTY (COMPENSATION) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1926

AN ACT TO MAKE PROVISION FOR INCREASING BY TEN PER CENT. THE AMOUNT OF THE COMPENSATION PAID OR TO BE PAID UNDER THE CRIMINAL INJURIES ACTS IN RESPECT OF INJURIES TO WHICH PART II OF THE DAMAGE TO PROPERTY (COMPENSATION) ACT, 1923 APPLIES, AND TO AUTHORISE THE PAYMENT OF SUCH INCREASE BY THE ISSUE OF FIVE PER CENT. SECURITIES, AND TO AUTHORISE THE ISSUE OF LIKE SECURITIES FOR INCREASING BY AN AMOUNT NOT EXCEEDING TEN PER CENT. THE SUMS WHICH HAVE BEEN OR MAY HEREAFTER BE PAID BY WAY OF COMPENSATION IN CASES WITHIN SECTION 15 OF THE SAID ACT, AND TO AUTHORISE THE ISSUE OUT OF THE CENTRAL FUND OF THE SUMS NECESSARY TO MEET THE OBLIGATIONS UNDERTAKEN BY THE IRISH FREE STATE BY ARTICLE 3 OF THE AGREEMENT MADE ON THE 3rd DAY OF DECEMBER, 1925 BETWEEN THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE IRISH FREE STATE. [11th June, 1926.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Principal Act.

1.—In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923).

2 Payment of ten per cent. addition to compensation.

2.—(1) The Minister for Finance shall pay, in the manner provided by this Act and in such one or more instalments as he thinks fit, to every person entitled within the meaning of this section to compensation under a decree made (whether before or after the passing of this Act) under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which Part II. of the Principal Act applies, a sum equal to one-tenth of the amount of such compensation.

• (2) The said sum to be paid under the foregoing sub-section shall be in addition to and not in substitution for the compensation, costs, and any other moneys payable under the decree.

• (3) For the purposes of this section the person entitled to compensation shall be the person to whom the compensation was made payable by the decree or his personal representative save and except that, where that person had before the date of the decree assigned the whole benefit of the decree to another person, such other person or his personal representative shall be the person entitled to compensation for the purposes of this section.

3 Manner of payment.

3.—(1) Every sum payable by the Minister for Finance under section 2 of this Act shall, whenever the sum is less than fifty pounds, be paid in money out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas and shall, whenever the sum amounts to fifty pounds or more, be paid as follows, that is to say:—

• (a) if the sum is a multiple of fifty pounds, by the issue to the person to whom the sum is payable of a security or securities created by an order made under section 13 of the Principal Act for the amount of such sum;

• (b) if the sum is not a multiple of fifty pounds, by the issue to the person to whom the sum is payable of a security or securities created by an order made under section 13 of the Principal Act for the amount of the largest multiple of fifty pounds which is less than the said sum and the payment to such person in money out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas of the difference between the said sum and the said largest multiple of fifty pounds.

• (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 13 of the Principal Act securities created by an order made under that section may be issued by the Minister for Finance to the persons to whom sums are under this section payable by means of such securities.

• (3) No reinstatement condition shall attach or be attached to any sum payable by the Minister for Finance under section 2 of this Act.

• (4) Whenever two or more sums are being paid by the Minister under this Act at the one time to the one person in respect of two or more amounts of compensation, such sums may be treated for the purposes of this section as together forming one sum.

4 Cases within section 15 of the Principal Act.

4.—Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in section 13 of the Principal Act the Minister for Finance may issue securities created by an order made under that section to applicants in cases within section 15 of the Principal Act for the purpose of paying to such applicants a sum in addition to but not exceeding one-tenth of the sum mentioned in pursuance of paragraph (b) of sub-section (3) of the said section 15 in the report made by the Judge under that sub-section.

5 Amount of compensation not to be influenced by provisions of this Act.

5.—Neither in considering the amount of compensation to be awarded in any application for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which Part II. of the Principal Act applies, nor in considering, in cases within section 15 of the Principal Act, the amount of the sum to be mentioned in pursuance of paragraph (b) of sub-section (3) of that section in his report under that sub-section, shall any Judge consider or have regard to the provisions of Article 4 of the Agreement set out in the Schedule to the Treaty (Confirmation of Amending Agreement) Act, 1925 (No. 40 of 1925), or the provisions of this Act.

6 Charge of certain sums on the Central Fund.

6.—(1) For discharging the liability assumed by the Irish Free State by Article 3 of the Agreement made on the 3rd day of December, 1925, between the British Government and the Government of the Irish Free State amending and supplementing the Treaty of 1921 and also for making the repayments to the British Government agreed by the said Article to be made by the Government of the Irish Free State, there shall be charged on the Central Fund and the growing produce thereof and paid thereout to the British Government the following sums at the following times, that is to say:—

• (a) a sum of one hundred and fifty thousand pounds payable immediately on the passing of this Act, and

• (b) an annual sum of two hundred and fifty thousand pounds payable on the 1st day of April in every year for sixty years commencing with the year 1926.

• (2) Whenever by agreement between the Minister for Finance and the British Government any sum or part of a sum payable under this section to the British Government is set-off against an equal amount payable by the British Government to the Government of Saorstát Eireann, the amount so set-off shall cease to be charged on and shall not be paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

7 Short title, construction, and citation.

7.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Damage to Property (Compensation) (Amendment) Act, 1926.

• (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act.

• (3) The Damage to Property (Compensation) Acts, 1923 and 1924, and this Act may be cited together as the Damage to Property (Compensation) Acts, 1923 to 1926.