Maura Hurley & Co. Solicitors offer advice on the full spectrum of *personal injuries services. 

If you are a member of An Garda Síochána and have sustained an *injury during the course of your duties, you may be entitled to compensation.

Two groups of individuals are eligible to apply for compensation under the Garda Acts:

1. Members of An Garda Síochána who sustained *personal injuries (not causing death) maliciously inflicted upon them in the performance of their duties or acting in their general capacity as a member when off duty or merely because of their being a member of An Garda Síochána. Please note trainee Gardaí who have not completed phase IV of their training are not eligible under the Acts.
2. Dependents of deceased members who were *fatally injured while on duty or while acting in their general capacity as a member or merely because of their being a member of An Garda Síochána. Section 3(1) of the Garda Síochána (Compensation) Act 1941 states that the following dependants may be awarded compensation: the widow, children, step-children, parents, siblings, half brothers or sisters, grandparents of the deceased member or adopted children under the age of 21 years who were supported, maintained and educated wholly or partially by the deceased person.

The injuries covered are those suffered:

• while on duty
• while exercising powers or otherwise acting in his or her general capacity as a member when off duty or on leave or otherwise not actually on duty or
• while on duty or off duty or on leave or at any other time because of anything previously done by him or her as a member or merely because of his or her being a member, or a person who had previously been, but at the time when such injuries were inflicted, or at the time of his or her death from such injuries, had ceased to be a member, where such injuries were inflicted on the person because of anything done by him or her as a member or merely because of his or her having been a member.

Making a claim under the Garda Compensation Scheme – visit The Injuries Resolution Board.

* 149. (1) A legal practitioner shall not charge any amount in respect of legal costs if —

(a) they are legal costs in connection with contentious business expressed as a specified percentage or proportion of any damages (or other moneys) that may be or become payable to his or her client, other than in relation to a matter seeking only to recover a debt or liquidated demand, or

(b) they purport to set the legal costs to be charged to a junior counsel as a specified percentage or proportion of the legal costs paid to a Senior Counsel.

(2) A legal practitioner shall not, without the prior written agreement of his or her client, deduct or appropriate any amount in respect of legal costs from the amount of any damages or moneys that become payable to the client in respect of legal services that the legal practitioner provided to the client.