The Personal Injuries Guidelines Committee of the Judicial Council will meet early next week, the Chief Justice has announced, in a statement strongly emphasising the committee's total independence.
Mr Justice Frank Clarke said he had nominated judges to be members designate of the committee and he hoped this would allow it to do planning and preliminary work prior to its formal establishment.
In a statement, he said he wanted to emphasise the total independence the committee would have, subject only to directions from the Judicial Council.
He said given that independence, and the fact that the committee had not even had its first meeting, there was no basis in fact for suggestions about how it would go about its work.
Mr Justice Clarke said there was no basis for suggesting the committee would pick the five most common injuries for initial consideration, use any particular research, have results in relation to them by next year and make an assessment which would reduce compensation for those injuries by 15-20%.
The judge said it would be for the committee, exercising its independent statutory function, to decide all those matters.
Last Sunday, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Michael D'Arcy, gave an interview to the Business Post newspaper suggesting awards for the top five injuries would be reduced early next year.
Mr Justice Clarke's statement is seen as a response to the minister's comments.
The Chief Justice said the committee would also be independent of him, and his only role was to ensure the judicial council was established as quickly as possible so the committee could then begin its formal work at the earliest time.
He said he also had a role in ensuring the committee was adequately resourced and he welcomed the additional allocation of funds by Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan.
The judge said he had to appoint the members but once appointed, it would be for the committee to carry out its work in an objective fashion and come to its own conclusions.
He said he felt it "incumbent" upon him to make this statement to avoid any wrong impressions about the full independence of the Judicial Council and the committee.
Ms Justice Mary Irvine, of the Supreme Court, will be the chair of the new committee.
She will be joined by Appeal Court Judge, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, two High Court judges, two circuit court judges and a judge of the district court.
