MR JUSTICE Carney awarded £300 to a Garda sergeant for a nosebleed and associated bruising. He added he was aware legal costs could be five times greater than the compensation.
In the High Court yesterday he authorised Sgt Phelim Patrick McGee to apply for compensation under the Garda Compensation Code. He said the Minister had by necessary implication certified his injuries to be "non minor" in character.
"In my view, the Minister's certification does violence to the English language and represents a failure on her part to discharge her statutory function to filter out the advancement of trivial and minor claims," he said.
Sgt McGee was head butted by a prisoner at Rathmines Garda Station in Dublin on September 8th 1993. His injuries consisted of a nose bleed and associated bruising, which cleared completely within two to three weeks.
The judge said the Garda Siochana Compensation Act of 1941 was designed to compensate dependants of gardai who had died from injuries inflicted in the course of their duties, and also for gardai who had received personal injuries.
The expression "personal injuries" was described in the Act as "not causing death". This, he said, suggested the minimum level of injury required to attract benefit was considerably above that of a nosebleed and some bruising and discomfort.
Mr Justice Carney said the Minister for Finance had belatedly come to share his view and had asked the court either to set aside or disregard the certification by the Minister for Justice.