Budget 2026 promises extra funding for victim supports

In its Budget 2026 package, the Department of Justice has announced €5 million in “additional funding to support victims while advancing proposals to place the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal (CICT) on a statutory basis”.

At a press conference at Leinster House on Wednesday, when asked for more specifics of what that money would be spent on, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan mentioned only the CICT.

“In terms of victim supports, there’s more funding provided for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal,” said O’Callaghan, a Fianna Fáil TD.

The CICT is a tribunal that citizens can apply to for compensation for expenses incurred or losses suffered as a result of being the victim of a violent crime.

It also allows for the dependents of a victim who has died due to a violent crime to receive compensation.

There have been some ongoing issues with the CICT, says Liam O'Driscoll, assistant lecturer in law at the Technological University of the Shannon, in Limerick. 

Most notably, a lack of funding, he said. 

This is likely to become more of a problem in the wake of a Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling, which O’Callaghan also mentioned on Wednesday.

“Interesting decision came out a week ago from the CJEU about the fact that that needs to be extended to losses up to personal injuries, in fact, to general damages,” O’Callaghan said. “That’s something we’re gonna have to consider.”

The tribunal

The CICT was founded in 1974, after taking inspiration from similar initiatives in places like the UK, US, and New Zealand, says O’Driscoll.

Here, it was ushered in under the backdrop of the Troubles, for victims of sectarian bombings, he says.

Across the 1980s and 1990s, it fell into relative obscurity, he says. While solicitors would have been making claims on behalf of clients, he says, it really wasn't something that was on many people’s radars, among the public.

While the fund was originally for payment of “general” damages, “including in respect of pain and suffering”, that changed in 1986, the CJEU ruling notes.

No longer would compensation be awarded for pain and suffering, because that had turned out to have “serious consequences for the finances of the Irish State which, at the time, was going through a period of profound economic recession”.

In the last five years, O’Driscoll says there has been a new interest and a drive to reform it.

O’Callaghan has been aware of some of the issues surrounding it for a number of years, says O’Driscoll.

He was senior counsel for the State in some judicial reviews that were taken against the tribunal, O’Driscoll says.

There have been ongoing issues with delays in people receiving payments, after a decision was ruled in their favour by the tribunal.

Notably, Alwyn Byrne brought a case to the High Court in 2015 after she waited 13 years for payment.

While this was a particularly lengthy example, O’Driscoll says, long waits are common. The tribunal keeps running out of money to pay people, he says.

More recently, he knows an individual who was awarded the payment in July 2024 after their family member was murdered. 

They didn’t receive any money until February 2025. “Because the funds weren’t there. They were already used up,” O’Driscoll says.

Even if the entire €5 million is for the CICT, O’Driscoll says there are still more questions about how the money will be spent.

He wants to know if that money will go towards paying the unresolved backlog from last year, or if it will only go to future claims in the year ahead.

The Department of Justice has not yet replied to a query sent Thursday, asking for clarification on that point.

The CJEU ruling

At the moment, while it’s possible to get compensation from the CICT for out-of-pocket expenses – loss of earnings, medical costs – it’s not possible to get compensation from it for pain and suffering, O’Driscoll says.

However, last week, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) made a judgment on a case referred from the Irish High Court saying that this was unlawful.

This was in the case of “LD”, a Spanish person living in Dublin and was “the victim of a violent criminal assault committed by a group of persons in front of his home”.

He applied for compensation, saying he’d permanently lost some vision, had injuries to his jaw, shoulder, arm, waist and chest – suffered from “mental distress and anxiety”, and lost his job because he was out of work after the assault. 

The CICT awarded him €645.62, to cover a lost driving licence, broken glasses, medicine, hospital costs and travel expenses.

LD went to the High Court to challenge this, saying it wasn’t fair and appropriate compensation because it excluded pain and suffering. 

When the CJEU got the case, it ruled in his favour. 

The CJEU found that Article 12(2) of Directive 2004/80/EC precludes “a national scheme on compensation to victims of violent intentional crimes which, as a matter of principle, excludes, as regards non-material harm, any compensation for pain and suffering endured by such victims”.

So, O’Driscoll says, change is coming to the CICT. 

This expected widening of the scheme, and a growing awareness of its existence, likely accounts for the funding increase, he said.

On the rise

There’s no breakdown available yet as to where Budget 2026 victim support funding will go, aside from to the CICT.

However, funding for victim support organisations has been incrementally improving in recent years, says Dympna Kenny, CEO of Victim Support at Court (VSAC).

VSAC helps victims with their court experience, providing emotional support and information in the lead-up, arranging for victims to physically visit court rooms beforehand, and, afterwards, talking through what happened.

In 2025, VSAC, which is funded entirely by the Department of Justice, received €581,000 in the budget.

Kenny says this is a fantastic amount, that they’re still spending, and helped the organisation grow and serve more people than ever before.

VSAC is mostly volunteer-run, with over 100 volunteers nationwide, serving every county in the Republic of Ireland, she says.

This demonstrates, she says, a growing understanding in the government of the importance of victim supports.

“The department are recognising that organisations like ourselves are there for victims. It's free and confidential for victims to have that support,” she says.