Compensation board under fire
The board was set up to curtail costs and speed up the legal process in injury compensation cases.
A partner in a major Limerick legal practice yesterday dismissed the board as “a bureaucratic mess”.
Limerick solicitor Frances Twomey said Ms Harney refused to take on board concerns by the Law Society when drafting the legislation.
Under the old system, Ms Twomey said cases involving elderly claimants could be fast-tracked through the courts, because of the age of the people involved.
She said: “I have a number of clients who are adversely affected by serious delays in having their cases dealt with.
“One case involves a man of 78 and despite constant communication with the board requesting them to either release the claim, which it has the discretion to do, or alternatively assess it immediately, the board is refusing to do either.”
Ms Twomey said Ms Harney claimed when the Bill was going through the Dáil that the new system was going to be a fast and efficient service.
She said she has sent 48 cases to the board.
She said: “Of these the board have only made two assessments to date. The board tell me they are availing of the statutory periods afforded to them, which are now much longer than the court’s system.”
Under the old system, Ms Twomey said she was able to institute proceedings and apply to the court for priority when a case involved an elderly client.
She said: “I am in constant contact both by phone and correspondence requesting the board to either release cases or assess them. They are not prepared to do either.
“Prior to this I could fast-track cases for elderly people and was able, even in cases where there was a full defence, to obtain a full hearing within six to nine months.”
A spokesman for the injury assessment board said they are obliged by law to deal with each case within nine months, and they were achieving this.
He said there was no basis for contending cases could take years for a decision.
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