S.I. No. 503/2005 - National Treasury Management Agency (Delegation of Claims Management Functions) Order 2005

WHEREAS each of the following Ministers of the Government, namely, the Taoiseach, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Education and Science, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Minister for Health and Children, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and the Minister for Transport, has requested the Government to delegate by order under section 9 (1) of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2000 (No. 39 of 2000) to the National Treasury Management Agency the management of any claims to which the following order applies against him or her or a State authority, specified in column (2) of the Schedule to the following order, functions in relation to which are vested in him or her;

NOW, the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 9 of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2000 (No. 39 of 2000), hereby order as follows:

1.         (1)        This Order may be cited as the National Treasury Management Agency (Delegation of Claims Management Functions) Order 2005.

(2)        This Order comes into operation on 1 September 2005.

2.         In this Order -

“Act of 2000” means National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2000 (No. 39 of 2000);

“Order of 2001” means National Treasury Management Agency (Delegation and Conferral of Functions) Order 2001 ( S.I. No. 531 of 2001 );

“Schedule” means Schedule to this Order.

3.         This Order applies to a claim, other than a claim referred to in Article 4, that -

(a)        is made against one or more Ministers of the Government or the State authorities specified in column (2) of the Schedule either alone or with any other person, and

(b)        either -

(i)         is made before the commencement of this Order and is one as respects which, not being a claim whose management was delegated to the Agency under the Order of 2001, the Agency and the State authority concerned determine that it should be managed by the Agency, or

(ii)        is made after such commencement irrespective of whether it relates to an act, omission or other matter occurring before or after such commencement or before the commencement of Part 2 of the Act of 2000.

4.         The following classes of claims are exempted from the delegation effected by this Order:

(a)       claims made against the Minister for Health and Children by persons in respect of infection, directly or indirectly, with Hepatitis C or the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or both through the administration of blood or blood products or in respect of related matters,

(b)       claims made against one or more Ministers of the Government or the State authorities specified in the Schedule in respect of personal injury which include a claim in relation to liability for -

(i)        defective products,

(ii)        injurious falsehood,

(iii)       intentional infliction of mental suffering,

(iv)       malicious prosecution,

(v)        malicious abuse of the civil process,

(vi)       deceit, or

(vii)      defamation,

and

(c)       claims made against a Minister of the Government in respect of personal injury -

(i)        suffered by an employee of the State or of the Government caused by a breach of the Employment Equality Act 1998 (No. 21 of 1998), or

(ii)       suffered by a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces while in the service of the State outside of the State.

5.       The management of a claim to which this Order applies is delegated to the Agency.

6.       Any claim made before the commencement of this Order whose management was delegated to the Agency under the Order of 2001 continues to be managed by the Agency under this Order.

7.        It is declared that the Agency shall have the functions specified in section 9(2)(a) of the Act of 2000.

8.       The National Treasury Management Agency (Delegation and Conferral of Functions Order 2001 ( S.I. No. 531 of 2001 ) is revoked.

SCHEDULE

Article 4

State authorities

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Order extends the categories of claims to be delegated to the State Claims Agency (SCA) - which already performs a range of functions in relation to the management of claims against State authorities, as defined in the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act 2000 .

These functions were performed under the National Treasury Management Agency (Delegation and Conferral of Functions) Order 2001 ( S.I. No. 531 of 2001 ) which is revoked in favour of this more comprehensive Order.

The additional category of claims being delegated to the SCA in this Order are claims in respect of hearing loss; child abuse; escape of anything brought onto land; animals; loss of consortium; trespass to the person (certain sub-categories of trespass to the person, such as Garda assaults and blood-borne diseases, remain subject to specific exemptions); trespass to goods; and personal injuries suffered or caused by persons while on temporary release from prison.

Article 4 of the Order sets out the categories of claims that remain excluded from delegation to the SCA.