Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022

PART 1 Preliminary and general

1. Short title, collective citations, construction and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 2022.

(2) The Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts 2003 to 2019 and Part 5 may be cited together as the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Acts 2003 to 2022 and shall be construed together as one.

(3) The National Treasury Management Agency Acts 1990 to 2014 and section 31 may be cited together as the National Treasury Management Agency Acts 1990 to 2022 and shall be construed together as one.

(4) The Garda Síochána Acts 2005 to 2015 and sections 33 and 34 may be cited together as the Garda Síochána Acts 2005 to 2022 and shall be construed together as one.

(5) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as the Minister may by order or orders appoint either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions and for the repeal of different enactments or provisions of enactments effected by section 6.

2. Interpretation

2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 1941” means the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 1941;

“Act of 1945” means the Garda Síochána (Compensation) (Amendment) Act 1945;

“Act of 1961” means the Civil Liability Act 1961;

“Act of 2003” means the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003;

“Act of 2004” means the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004;

“Act of 2005” means the Garda Síochána Act 2005;

F1["Act of 2024" means the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024;]

“applicant” means a person who has made an application for initial assessment and shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2);

“application for initial assessment” means an application referred to in section 7;

“document” means—

(a) a book, record or other written or printed material,

(b) a photograph,

(c) any information stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in legible form, or

(d) any audio or video recording;

“enactment” has the same meaning as it has in section 2(1) of the Interpretation Act 2005;

“former member” means a person who was a member, but who, at the time the application for initial assessment is made, has ceased to be a member;

“Garda Commissioner” means the person for the time being appointed as the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána in accordance with F2[section 26 of the Act of 2024], or a person performing the functions of the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána F2[pursuant to section 28 of that Act];

“initial assessment report” has the meaning assigned to it by section 13(1)(b)(i);

“malicious incident” means an incident, whether occurring before or after the commencement of this Act, as a result of which personal injuries (which may include injuries causing death) were maliciously inflicted on—

(a) a member, where such injuries were inflicted—

(i) in the performance of his or her duties as a member while actually on duty,

(ii) while exercising powers or otherwise acting in his or her general capacity as a member when off duty or on leave or otherwise not actually on duty, or

(iii) while on duty or off duty or on leave or at any other time because of anything previously done by him or her as a member or merely because of his or her being a member,

or

(b) a person who had previously been, but at the time when such injuries were inflicted, or at the time of his or her death from such injuries, had ceased to be a member, where such injuries were inflicted on the person because of anything done by him or her as a member or merely because of his or her having been a member;

F2[“member”means—

(a) a member of An Garda Síochána within the meaning of the Act of 2024, and

(b) a trainee within the meaning of the Act of 2024;]

F1["member of garda staff" has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2024;]

“Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister;

“regulations” means regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“reporting officer” means a person appointed under subsection (1) or (2)(a) of section 12;

“review officer” means a person assigned under subsection (2) or (7)(a) of section 15.

(2) A reference in this Act to an applicant—

(a) shall include a reference to a person acting on behalf of the applicant in accordance with section 8(4), and

(b) where a single application for initial assessment is made by more than one person in accordance with section 8(3)(b), shall include a reference to each such person.

3. Expenses

3. The expenses incurred by the Minister and the Garda Commissioner in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

4. Regulations

4. (1) The Minister may make regulations providing for any matter or thing which is referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed or for the purpose of enabling any provision of this Act to have full effect.

(2) A regulation under this Act may contain such incidental, supplementary and consequential provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient for the purposes of the regulation.

(3) Every regulation under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

5. Transitional provisions

5. (1) Where, before the date of commencement of this Act, the Minister has authorised, under section 6(1)(a) or section 6(1)(b)(iii) of the Act of 1941, an application to be made to the High Court in accordance with that Act, the Act of 1941 and the Act of 1945 shall continue to apply to and in relation to the application, as if those Acts had not been repealed by section 6 and as if this Act had not come into operation.

(2) Where—

(a) before the date of commencement of this Act—

(i) an application for compensation has been refused by the Minister under section 6(1)(b)(i) of the Act of 1941, or

(ii) in relation to an application for compensation, the Minister has made a payment on foot of an opinion formed under section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Act of 1941,

(b) whether before, on or after the date of commencement of this Act, an application for leave to apply for judicial review is made in relation to the Minister’s refusal or payment, and

(c) the outcome of the judicial review proceedings is an order of certiorari in respect of that refusal or payment,

the court shall, instead of remitting the application for compensation to the Minister to consider under the Act of 1941, order that the person who had made the application for compensation may make an application for initial assessment in accordance with this Act.

(3) Where the court has made an order under subsection (2), the Minister shall, as soon as may be, return the application for compensation and any accompanying documents to the person who made the application, together with a notice in writing informing him or her that an application for initial assessment may be made.

(4) Where, on the date of commencement of this Act, the Minister has not, in relation to an application for compensation—

(a) made an authorisation to which section 6(1)(a) or section 6(1)(b)(iii) of the Act of 1941 applies, as the case may be,

(b) made a refusal to which section 6(1)(b)(i) of the Act of 1941 applies, or

(c) made a payment to which section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Act of 1941 applies,

the Minister shall, as soon as may be, return the application and any accompanying documents to the person who made the application, together with a notice in writing informing him or her that an application for initial assessment may be made.

(5) Notwithstanding section 10(1), an application for initial assessment following a notice in writing referred to in subsection (3) or (4) shall be made not later than 6 months after the date of the notice in writing concerned and subsections (4) to (7) of section 10 shall apply to such period as they apply to a period specified in section 10(1).

(6) Nothing in this Act shall prevent a person from making an application for initial assessment in accordance with this Act in relation to injuries or death as a result of a malicious incident that occurred before the coming into operation of this Act, where the person had not made an application to the Minister under the Act of 1941 in relation to such injuries or death.

(7) The Minister may make regulations enabling this section to have full effect.

(8) In this section, “application for compensation” means an application to the Minister for compensation made under the Act of 1941.

6. Repeals and revocation

6. Subject to section 5—

(a) the following are repealed:

(i) the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 1941;

(ii) the Garda Síochána (Compensation) (Amendment) Act 1945,

and

(b) the Gárda Síochána (Application for Compensation) Regulations 1941 (S.I. No. 413 of 1941) are revoked.

PART 2 Application for initial assessment

7. Subject of application for initial assessment

7. Subject to section 5, an application for initial assessment may be made by a person referred to in section 8(2) to a person referred to in section 9 alleging that—

(a) injuries inflicted on a member or former member were as a result of a malicious incident, or

(b) the death of a member or former member was as a result of a malicious incident (whether or not that member or former member has received compensation for the injuries suffered as a result of the malicious incident).

8. Application for initial assessment

8. (1) Subject to this section, a person referred to in subsection (2) may make an application for initial assessment to a person specified in section 9.

(2) Any of the following persons shall be entitled to make an application for initial assessment:

(a) in the case of injuries referred to in section 7(a), the member or former member, as the case may be, referred to in that section, or

(b) subject to subsection (3), in the case of a death referred to in section 7(b)—

(i) a person who, on the date of death of the member or former member, was his or her spouse or civil partner,

(ii) a person who, on the date of death of the member or former member, had been living with him or her as his or her cohabitant within the meaning of section 172 of the Act of 2010 for a continuous period—

(I) of 2 years or more, in the case where they were the parents of one or more dependent children, and

(II) of not less than 3 years, in any other case,

(iii) a child or step-child of the deceased member or former member,

(iv) a parent or grandparent of the deceased member or former member, or

(v) a brother, sister, half-brother or half-sister of the deceased member or former member,

if the person referred to in subparagraph (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) or (v) was wholly or partly dependent on the deceased person and suffered loss by the death.

(3) In the case of an application for initial assessment in relation to a death referred to in subsection (2)(b)—

(a) only one application for initial assessment may be made in respect of the death,

(b) the application for initial assessment may be made by all or any of the persons to whom that subsection refers,

(c) the application for initial assessment, by whomsoever made, shall be for the benefit of all the persons to whom that subsection refers, and

(d) in relation to the application for initial assessment—

(i) the applicant shall provide with the application particulars of the person or persons making the application and, where applicable, particulars of any other person for whom and for whose benefit the application is being made, and

(ii) the particulars referred to in subparagraph (i) shall include particulars showing that each person referred to in that subparagraph is a person to whom subsection (2)(b) applies.

(4) Where a person to whom subsection (2) applies is—

(a) a person who has attained the age of 18 years who—

(i) has a mental disability,

(ii) is suffering from a disorder of the mind, whether as a result of mental illness or dementia, or

(iii) has a physical disability,

which is of such nature or degree that it results in the person requiring assistance with communicating and other activities of daily living, or

(b) a person who has not attained the age of 18 years,

an application for initial assessment may be made on his or her behalf by his or her parent, guardian, next friend, committee or any other person duly authorised to act on his or her behalf, and such a person may continue to act on his or her behalf for the purposes of obtaining compensation in accordance with this Act.

(5) In deducing any relationship for the purposes of this section, a person in loco parentis to another shall be considered the parent of that other.

(6) In this section—

“Act of 2010” means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010;

“dependent child” has the same meaning as it has in section 171 of the Act of 2010.

9. Person to whom application for initial assessment is made

9. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a person to whom section 8(2) applies may make an application for initial assessment to the Garda Commissioner.

(2) Where an applicant is the Garda Commissioner—

(a) the application for initial assessment shall be made to the Minister,

(b) the Minister shall, as soon as may be, transmit the application along with any accompanying information and documents to such member of a rank not lower than Assistant Garda Commissioner as he or she considers appropriate, and

(c) Parts 2 to 4 (other than this section, section 14(11)(b) and section 18(6)(b)) shall be construed as if a reference to the Garda Commissioner in those Parts were a reference to the member referred to in paragraph (b).

10. Time limit for application for initial assessment

10. (1) Subject to this section, an application for initial assessment shall be made not later than 6 months after—

(a) in the case of injuries referred to in section 7(a)—

(i) the date upon which the injuries to the member or former member occurred, or

(ii) the date of knowledge of the member or former member of the injuries concerned,

whichever is the later, or

(b) in the case of a death referred to in section 7(b), the date of death of the member or former member, as the case may be.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a person’s knowledge includes knowledge which he or she might reasonably have been expected to acquire—

(a) from facts observable or ascertainable by him or her, or

(b) from facts ascertainable by him or her with the help of medical or other appropriate expert advice which it is reasonable for him or her to seek.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (2)—

(a) a person shall not be fixed under this section with knowledge of a fact ascertainable only with the help of expert advice so long as he or she has taken all reasonable steps to obtain (and, where appropriate, to act on) that advice, and

(b) a person injured shall not be fixed under this section with knowledge of a fact relevant to the injuries which he or she has failed to acquire as a result of those injuries.

(4) Where a person fails to make an application for initial assessment before the expiration of the period specified in subsection (1), the Garda Commissioner may decide to extend the period specified in that subsection, on application to him or her in that behalf in writing by the person concerned, where the Garda Commissioner is satisfied that—

(a) it is necessary to do so by reason of the person being a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 8(4), or

(b) the circumstances that resulted in the failure to make the application within the period specified in subsection (1) were either—

(i) outside the control of, or

(ii) could not reasonably have been anticipated by,

the person.

(5) The Garda Commissioner shall notify in writing the person concerned of his or her decision under subsection (4) as soon as practicable after the making of the decision.

(6) Where the decision of the Garda Commissioner under subsection (4) is to extend the period referred to in subsection (1)—

(a) the notification under subsection (5) shall specify the period of the extension and inform the person of the effect of paragraph (b), and

(b) the person concerned may make an application for initial assessment before the expiry of the period specified in the notification.

(7) Where the decision of the Garda Commissioner under subsection (4) is not to extend the period referred to in subsection (1), the notification under subsection (5) shall—

(a) set out the reasons for the decision, and

(b) inform the person concerned that he or she may make an application under section 16 for a review of the decision.

(8) Where the Garda Commissioner wishes to make an application for initial assessment but has failed to make the application before the expiration of the period specified in subsection (1), subsections (4) to (7) shall be construed as if a reference to the Garda Commissioner in those subsections were a reference to the member specified in section 9(2)(b).

(9) In this section, “date of knowledge” means the date on which the member or former member or, in the case of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of section 8(4), the person who is authorised to act on his or her behalf, first had knowledge that the member or former member who is alleged to have suffered injuries as a result of a malicious incident had suffered such injuries.

11. Form and content of application for initial assessment