Victims of violent crime to be compensated for pain and suffering

Ruth Maxwell, a survivor who campaigned for reform of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, has welcomed the new move. File picture: Bob Morrison

Victims of violent crime will be eligible for compensation for pain and suffering under planned changes to the State's compensation scheme.

Until now, compensation has been limited to financial losses such as loss of earnings and vouched out-of-pocket expenses. It did not cover pain and suffering.

The changes follow a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union last year that member states are required under a 2004 directive to provide compensation for both material and non-material damage, including pain and suffering, to victims of violent crime.

The ruling arose from a case referred by the High Court involving a Spanish national living in Ireland who suffered injuries in an assault in 2015.

The revised scheme provides for guidelines on the level of awards that may be made to victims of crime. Justice Minister Jim O'Callaghan said the guidelines are expected to be published in the autumn.

Ruth Maxwell's campaign 

Ruth Maxwell, a survivor who campaigned for reform of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, welcomed the moves.

She sustained severed tendons in her hand as she fought off her attacker, Slawomir Gierlowski, in Dublin in 2016. She damaged her hand when pulling his knife away from her throat. 

After a DNA profile was made after that attack, Gierlowski was linked to and convicted of other attacks on womenwhich occurred before the attack on Ms Maxwell.

She now works as a consultant to support others in their dealings with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal, which makes decisions relating to compensation. She said the unveiling in the autumn of the financial guidelines for awards will be a big step.

She welcomed the revisions as “an interim measure at the start of a long process in the continuation of reforming the scheme”.

Ms Maxwell said: “These proposed interim measures are a welcome step in the right direction so that these changes and more be retained when permanent reform of the scheme takes place, as per set out in the programme for government.” 

She said the current scheme remains non-statutory and “there is still considerable work ahead before Ireland has a compensation system that is fully modern, victim-centred, and fit for purpose”.

In March, the Law Reform Commission published a report which recommended that a new State body be set up to oversee compensation for victims of violent crime, with the commission saying the current payments system is not fit for purpose.

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