Compensating Victims of Crime

Background

This project examines proposals for reforming the Irish scheme for compensating victims of violent crime. The current scheme is called the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The project assesses whether this scheme needs to be given a statutory basis, and how the scheme can be revised in order to comply with recent legal developments in victims’ rights at Irish and EU level. The Consultation paper for this project was published in 2022. The final report was published in March 2026.

Project

The project examines:

Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme: Established on a non-statutory basis in 1974, the Scheme provides compensation for victims of crime but may require reform to address gaps highlighted in submissions.
Interaction with Court-Ordered Compensation: Section 6 of the Criminal Justice Act 1993 enables courts to order offenders to compensate victims for personal injury or loss. The project considers how this provision interacts with the Scheme and how it can be strengthened.
EU Obligations: Ireland must comply with Directive 2004/80/EC on compensation to crime victims. The project assesses potential reforms to comply with these obligations.
Scope of Compensation: Should the Scheme include claims for general damages (such as pain and suffering) and other reforms to ensure fairness and adequacy?

Next steps

The Commission has just completed the final report, with recommendations for reforming the compensation scheme, published in March 2026.