The hepatitis C and HIV compensation tribunal made an award of over €2 million in one case last year, its annual report reveals. Martin Wall reports.
The award is believed to be one of the largest ever made by the tribunal, which pays out compensation to people who contracted the conditions from contaminated blood products.
Of the 138 awards made last year by the tribunal, the report shows that the average award was €224, 544.91.
The awards made by the tribunal ranged from €5,000 to €2,005,000, the report states.
The tribunal is made up of a panel of lawyers who adjudicate on claims at oral hearings held in Dublin and occasionally in Cork.
Awards can be appealed to the High Court.
The tribunal has paid out a total of €35.337 million which includes 29 increases in compensation awarded on appeal by the High Court.
Over €6.8 million was paid out in legal fees.
Over €900,000 was paid out in salary and fees to members of the tribunal panel, according to the report. The report maintains that there were three interim awards, 25 provisional awards and 10 single lump sum awards.
The report states that one provisional award was made in respect of HIV infection.
"Interim awards are generally made in situations where a claimant is not in a position to present the claim in full, e.g., when he/she is undergoing treatment for the condition of hepatitis C or HIV and a final prognosis is not immediately made.
"In the provisional awards made to date the tribunal has been of the view that on the evidence before it that there was a possibility, but no more than a possibility, that the claimant, as a result of having contracted hepatitis C or HIV might suffer a particular serious consequence in the future.