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€8.7 million paid out to crime victims in 2023
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20 Dec 2024 justice Print

€8.7 million paid out to crime victims in 2023

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal awarded €8.7 million to victims of violent crime last year, its annual report shows. 

This was up from just over €8 million in 2022. 

The body administers a scheme that provides compensation to victims of violent crime in the State, as well as a separate compensation scheme for prison officers who suffer personal injuries due to a violent crime experienced in the course of their duties. 

The annual report shows that, under the general scheme, €7.5 million was paid out to 270 applicants. 

Last year, 72 applicants also received total awards of €1.2 million under the prison-officer scheme. 

Increase in applications 

Writing in the report, tribunal chair Conor Heaney said that the body continued to experience an increase in the volume of applications, which were now approaching levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He added that the tribunal was “well placed” to deal with this increase, adding that there had also been significant progress in reducing the number of ‘abeyance’ files held by the tribunal, which have now either been closed or an award made. 

Last year, the scheme received 252 applications – 163 under the general scheme and 89 under the prison-officer scheme.  

This compared with 236 applications in 2022 and was mainly due to an increase in prison-officer applications. 

The tribunal held 127 hearings last year – “virtually all” held remotely. The number of hearings rose from 103 the previous year. Of the 2023 hearings, 80 were linked to the criminal-injuries scheme, and 47 to prison officers. 

The number of hearings has increased significantly since 2021, as 2022 was the first full calendar year in which an increased tribunal membership was in place. 

Aged files 

A total of 805 files were sent to tribunal members in 2023 – a sharp drop from 1,203 recorded in the previous year. 

The body says that this was because, in 2022, it began a process of determining and closing off on many aged files – applications made more than five years previously – that had been held in abeyance. 

As well as the chair, the tribunal comprises a panel of qualified barristers and solicitors. The report shows that they received a total of just under €250,000 in fees last year.  

The tribunal’s report notes that there are legal challenges currently before the courts challenging elements of the scheme on their compliance with an EU directive on compensating crime victims. 

“This includes challenging, in particular, whether the directive brings with it a requirement for compensation to be awarded in respect of general damages (pain-and-suffering related compensation) and the outcome of these proceedings is awaited,” it states. 

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