Damage To Property (Compensation) Act, 1923

Mode of payment of compensation.

13.—(1) The compensation and the costs awarded by any decree made under the Criminal Injuries Acts in respect of an injury to which this part of this Act applies shall be paid to the applicant or other person entitled thereto under such decree by the Minister for Finance in the manner provided by this section.

(2) Every such decree as aforesaid shall declare the compensation, and the costs thereby awarded to be payable to the applicant or other person entitled thereto, but no such decree shall contain any declaration as to the person by whom such compensation is payable.

(3) The Minister for Finance may deduct from the amount of any compensation payable by him under this section the amounts following, that is to say:—

(a) any debt or other sum of money due or payable by or collectable from the applicant or other person entitled to such compensation to or by the late Provisional Government of Ireland, or the Government of Saorstát Eireann or any Department or authority of either of those Governments;

(b) any money due or payable by or collectable from the applicant or other person entitled to such compensation to or by the Irish Land Commission;

(c) any money due or payable by the applicant or other person entitled to such compensation in respect of any poor-rate or other rate levied by any county or district council or town commissioners:

Provided always that where compensation is payable partly in securities and partly in money, securities shall be taken at their nominal face value in discharge of such debts or other sums of money as aforesaid, and no deduction shall be made from any money payable as compensation until the total amount of securities payable as compensation shall have been exhausted.

(4) All costs payable by the Minister for Finance under this section shall be paid in money out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas.

(5) The Minister for Finance shall pay in money out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas the following portions of any compensation payable by him under this section, that is to say:—

(a) any compensation to which a re-instatement condition is attached;

(b) the whole of the compensation in every case in which the total amount of the compensation does not exceed £500;

(c) the first £500 and one-half of the excess above £500 in every case in which the total amount of the compensation to which no re-instatement condition is attached exceeds £500 and does not exceed £3,500;

(d) the first £2,000 in every case in which the amount of the compensation to which no re-instatement condition is attached exceeds £3,500;

(e) such further sum not exceeding £50 in addition to the amounts aforesaid as is necessary to reduce the balance of the compensation remaining to be dealt with under the next sub-section to a multiple of £50

(6) So much of any compensation as is not payable in money under the foregoing sub-section shall be paid by the Minister for Finance to the applicant, or other person entitled thereto, by the issue to the applicant or other person aforesaid of a security or securities created under this section for the amount of so much as aforesaid of such compensation, and such security shall subject to such conditions as shall be prescribed by the Minister for Finance be accepted at its nominal face value in payment of all duties payable to the Revenue Commissioners of Saorstát Eireann by or in respect of the death of the person to whom such security was issued or in respect of the death of any subsequent holder who had been the registered holder of such security for not less than twelve months previous to his death.

(7) The Minister for Finance may, for the purpose of the foregoing sub-section, by order create such securities capable of registration bearing such rate of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as he shall think fit.

Every order made by the Minister for Finance under this sub-section shall forthwith be laid before each House of the Oireachtas, and if both such Houses shall within the next twenty-one days on which either House has sat after such Order is laid before the Houses pass resolutions annulling such Order, such Order shall be annulled, but such annulment shall not prejudice or invalidate any matter or thing previously done under such Order.

(8) The principal and interest of all securities issued under this section, and the expenses incurred in connection with the issue of such securities shall be charged on the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(9) In every case in which the Minister for Finance shall have received notice of any assignment, mortgage or charge affecting the compensation payable by him under this section, he may, subject and without prejudice to any re-instatement condition attached to such compensation or any part thereof, pay such compensation into the County Court by which the decree awarding such compensation was made, and such compensation shall subject to the rules of Court for the time being in force in regard to moneys paid into the County Court under section 42 of the Trustee Act, 1893 (56 and 57 Vict., Ch. 53), be dealt with in accordance with orders of that Court.

(10) In every case in which the Minister for Finance shall have received no notice of any assignment, mortgage, or charge affecting the compensation payable by him under this section, he shall, subject and without prejudice to any re-instatement condition attached to such compensation or any part thereof, pay such compensation to the person to whom the same is declared by the decree to be payable, and the receipt of such person for such compensation shall be a sufficient discharge to the Minister for Finance: Provided that the Minister for Finance may in any case withhold payment of any compensation payable by him until he has received from the Secretary of the Council of the County, County Borough, or Urban District, or Commissioners of the Town in which the injury occurred, a certificate that there is no money due to such Council or Commissioners by the person to whom such compensation is payable, in respect of any poor-rate or other rate levied by such Council or Commissioners.

(11) In every case in which a re-instatement condition is attached to the decree, the compensation to which such re-instatement condition relates shall be paid at such time or times, in such instalments, and upon production of such evidence, (in the case of payment of an instalment) of partial compliance with the re-instatement condition, or (in the case of a final payment) of complete compliance with the re-instatement condition, as the Minister for Finance shall from time to time prescribe, and the decision of the Minister for Finance as to whether a re-instatement condition has or has not been complied with (whether wholly or partially) or as to whether sufficient evidence of such compliance has or has not been given shall be final.

(12) The costs referred to in this section do not include any costs which, in the opinion of the Judge, ought to be borne by the party who incurred same, or any costs which, in the opinion of the Judge, ought to be paid by the applicant to any other party.