THE STATE paid out €5.8 million in compensation and legal costs from claims against gardaí by members of the public last year for alleged assaults, unlawful arrests and other breaches of people’s rights, new figures show.
Some 40 claims alleging Garda assault were received from members of the public in 2011, along with 16 cases of unlawful arrest and 56 cases categorised as “other”, which include unlawful entry, confiscation of property, harassment and other breaches of people’s constitutional rights.
Legal fees accounted for the majority of costs and totalled €4.9 million, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act. Awards and settlements represented just over €900,000.
In the case of assaults against gardaí, three cases were awarded a total of €168,900, while 27 were settled out of court at a cost of €722,605. The combined legal cost for all assault cases was just under €1.7 million.
Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Dara Calleary said he could not understand why the legal costs were so high. “There is a serious question to be asked, especially in terms of Garda budgets now. I simply can’t fathom how the costs are so high for €168,900 in awards,” he said.
The Department of Justice said the majority of costs came from being directed to pay plaintiffs’ legal advisers by the courts or where costs were agreed to be included as part of out-of-court settlements.
“More often than not, legal costs are paid long after the cases to which they relate are finalised. Thus, legal costs paid in 2011, by and large, relate to cases where awards were made by court or which were settled in previous years. The costs involved here are not State legal costs,” a spokesman for the department said.
Separately, figures compiled by the department show the State paid out almost €10 million in compensation and legal fees for psychological distress and other injuries suffered by gardaí during the course of duty last year.
This is up from just over €8 million in 2010.
The injuries, more than 200 in all, included being being spat at, threatened, bitten by animals, assaulted, stabbed and shot at. A significant number of cases relate to claims for psychological harm suffered by gardaí over the risk of contracting disease from drug addicts.
Again, legal fees accounted for a significant proportion of the State’s expenditure. Of the €9.7 million paid out, some €3.8 million related to legal costs, while €5.9 million went on compensation.
The Government has tried to bring down the cost of legal fees by handing responsibility for dealing with compensation claims to the State Claims Agency.