Good Samaritan Act Ireland 2011
The Good Samaritan act was passed into law in 24th June 2011 as is
part of the CIVIL LAW (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 2011.
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/pdf/2011/en.act.2011.0023.PDF
The Good Samaritan law is contained in Part 3 of the act.
PART 3
Good Samaritans, etc.
4.—The Civil Liability Act 1961 is amended by the insertion of the
following Part after Part IV:
PART IVA
51A.—(1) In this Part—
‘emergency’ includes circumstances arising in connection with an
actual or apprehended accident;
‘good samaritan’ means a person who, without expectation of payment
or other reward, provides assistance, advice or care to another person
in an emergency, but does not include a person who does so as a
volunteer;
‘negligence’ does not include breach of statutory duty;
‘voluntary work’ means any work or other activity that is carried out
for any of the following purposes:
(a) a charitable purpose within the meaning of the Charities
Act 2009;
(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), the
purpose of providing assistance, advice or care in an
emergency or so as to prevent an emergency;
(c)the purpose of sport or recreation;
‘volunteer’ means a person who does voluntary work that is authorised
by a volunteer organisation and does so without expectation of
payment (other than reasonable reimbursement for expenses) or other
reward;
‘volunteer organisation’ means any body (whether or not incorporated)
that is not formed for profit and that authorises the doing of voluntary
work whether or not as the principal purpose of the organisation.
(2) A reference in this Part to the provision of assistance, advice or
care to a person includes a reference to any of the following activities:
(a) the administration of first-aid to the person;
(b) the treatment of the person using an automated external
defibrillator;
(c)the transportation of the person from the scene of an emergency
to a hospital or other place for the purposes of ensuring the
person receives medical care.
(3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall operate to limit the nature of
activities that may constitute assistance, advice or care for the
purposes of this
Part.
51B.—This Part shall not apply to any cause of action that accrued
before the commencement of this Part.
51C.—(1) This Part shall not apply in relation to the negligent use of a
mechanically propelled vehicle in a public place.
(2) In this section ‘mechanically propelled vehicle’ has the same
meaning as it has in Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1961.
51D.—(1) A good samaritan shall not be personally liable in negligence
for any act done in an emergency when providing—
(a) assistance, advice or care to a person who is—
I. in serious and imminent danger, or apparently in serious
and imminent danger, of being injured or further injured,
II. injured or apparently injured, or
III. suffering, or apparently suffering, from an illness,
or
(b) advice by telephone or by another means of
communication to a person (whether or not the person is a
person referred to in paragraph (a)) who is at the scene of the
emergency.
(2) The protection from personal liability conferred on a good
samaritan by subsection applies even if the emergency is caused by an
act of the good samaritan.
(3) The protection from personal liability conferred on a good
samaritan by subsection (1) shall not apply to—
(a) any act done by the good samaritan in bad faith or with gross
negligence, or
(b) any act done by the good Samaritan when providing assistance,
advice or care in circumstances where the good samaritan has a
duty (whether imposed by or under any enactment or any other
rule of law) to provide such assistance, advice or care.
51E.—(1) A volunteer shall not be personally liable in negligence for
any act done when carrying out voluntary work.
(3) Nothing in this section shall operate to limit the matters that a
court may consider, in proceedings to which this section applies, when
determining whether a volunteer organisation owed a duty of care to a
plaintiff or other person.”.
(2) The protection from personal liability conferred on a volunteer by
subsection (1) shall not apply to any act done by the volunteer if—
(a) the act was done by the volunteer in bad faith or with gross
negligence, or
(b) the volunteer knew or ought reasonably to have known that
the act was—
(i) outside the scope of the voluntary work authorised by the
volunteer organisation concerned, or
(ii) contrary to the instructions of the volunteer organisation
concerned.
(3) An agreement, undertaking or arrangement has no effect to the
extent that it provides for a volunteer to give a volunteer organisation
an indemnity against, or to make a contribution to a volunteer
organisation in relation to, a liability
that—
(a) the volunteer would incur for his or her negligence but for the
operation of subsection (1), and
(b) the volunteer organisation incurs as a result of its vicarious
liability for that negligence.
51F.—The protection from personal liability conferred on a good
samaritan by section 51D or a volunteer by section 51E is in addition
to any protection from personal liability conferred on the good
samaritan or volunteer by or under any other enactment or rule of law.
51G.—(1) This section applies to proceedings relating to the liability of
a volunteer organisation for negligence arising from activities carried
out by or on behalf of the organisation.
(2) In any proceedings to which this section applies, when determining
whether the volunteer organisation owed a duty of care to the plaintiff
or any other person, a court shall consider whether it would be just
and reasonable to find that the organisation owed such a duty having
regard to the social utility of the activities concerned.