The Courts Service has rejected claims of very significant losses in a €1.8 billion fund it manages for some 20,000 dependents – including some 2,600 wards of courts.
It defended its investment policies, saying returns of 90 per cent had been achieved over a 14-year period to this year.
It said a more conservative investment strategy would have resulted in returns of just 2 per cent per year and without its strategy the wards’ funds would have been in a much worse state, if not completely depleted.
The Courts Service was addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Justice and Equality after the campaign group Justice for Wards called for a public inquiry into management of the wards’ assets.
Lunacy regulations
The group said it was “archaic” that the wards of courts’ assets were held by the State under the lunacy regulations of 1871.
Justice for Wards has also called for the fund to be brought under the supervision of the Comptroller and Auditor General, saying most wards and many of their families are unaware of how much money is available year-to-year to plan wards’ care.
The campaign group said information on the wards’ finances was difficult to obtain even for families and others who form statutory “committees” to look after the wards.
Spokeswoman Mary Farrell said people may be made wards of court for a variety of reasons including old age, dementia, neurological disabilities and mental health issues or brain injuries, among other reasons.
However, the head of the superior courts operations directorate of the Courts Service, Geraldine Hurley, said the Assisted Decision Making Capacity Act (2015) was instituting a reformed framework for people who lacked the capacity to look after themselves.
She said after a three year transitional period the wards of court office will no longer have a role in managing the affairs of wards of court, other than minors. She said annual statements had been introduced and 120 such statements had gone out to those charged with care of the wards in recent weeks.
