asked the Minister for Justice if he will outline the policy of his Department to assist members of the public to avail of any grants and assistance available from his Department and the procedures used towards this end.

Payments in the form of grants or assistance by my Department are made to bodies rather than to individual members of the public. Payments under the scheme of compensation for personal injuries criminally inflicted and under the free legal aid scheme are, of course, paid to individual persons. The policy is to be as helpful as possible to the persons entitled to assistance and to pay any money due as promptly as possible.