Victims of violent crime in Ireland will soon be able to claim compensation for pain and suffering, not just financial losses, under planned reforms to the State’s compensation scheme.
What’s changing
Current rules: Compensation has been restricted to quantifiable financial losses such as lost earnings and documented out-of-pocket expenses. It has not covered non-material harm like pain and suffering.
New rules: The revised scheme will allow awards for both material and non-material damage, including pain and suffering, in line with a 2004 EU directive.
Trigger for reform: The change follows a Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling last year, which held that EU member states must compensate victims of violent crime for both types of damage.
Origin of the case: The CJEU ruling came from a High Court–referred case involving a Spanish national living in Ireland who was injured in a 2015 assault.
Next steps: The Department of Justice plans to publish guidelines on award levels in the autumn, according to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.
Campaign and survivor perspective
Survivor and campaigner Ruth Maxwell welcomed the changes as an important but interim step.
In 2016, she suffered severe hand injuries while defending herself from an attacker in Dublin. She severed her tendons as she pulled a knife away from her throat.
A later DNA match linked her attacker, Slawomir Gierlowski, to other assaults on women, leading to further convictions.
Maxwell now works as a consultant helping victims navigate the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.
She described the upcoming financial guidelines as a “big step,” but stressed that the current non-statutory scheme still requires substantial reform to become fully modern and victim-centred.
Wider reform context
In March, the Law Reform Commission published a report recommending the creation of a new State body to oversee compensation for victims of violent crime, judging the existing system “not fit for purpose.” The planned interim measures are seen as the beginning of a longer process to overhaul the scheme in line with that recommendation.