Gardaí have a particularly dangerous job, and injuries at work are always going to occur. There has been a significant increase in claims over the last 5 years. Some 430 claims have been settled in the past two years and more than 800 claims are outstanding. The total cost of the awards and legal costs was almost €30 million over the past two years. The numbers appear to indicate that about 5% of the members of the Garda Síochána are claiming compensation for work-related injuries every year.
Garda injury compensation claims are not handled by Injuries Board Ireland. The Garda Compensation Act specifies that all Garda injury claims must be handled by the High Court. There has been a significant increase in compensation for the stress caused by exposure to people that are possibly infected with diseases like hepatitis or HIV. Some examples include:
- A garda was awarded €25,000 in compensation for stress after an encounter with a HIV-positive drug addict.
- A garda was awarded €30,000 after an injury became infected and he was afraid he might contract a disease.
- A garda was awarded €8,000 for physical and psychological suffering after being bitten during the arrest of a drug user.
Gardaí are exposed to other forms of workplace stress that other workers rarely experience. For example, a garda who had a gun pointed at her and hid under a dashboard was awarded €30,000. The gun was an imitation firearm, although there was no way for the garda to know that at the time.