Vol. 533 No. 4
46 Mr. McDowell asked the Minister for Defence the number of claims for damages for deafness determined in court or settled out of court at the latest date for which figures are available; the number of such claims outstanding; the progress which has been made with the Law Society regarding the pilot scheme to speed up hearings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9016/01]
By 28 February 2001, a total of 15,598 claims had been received by my Department in respect of alleged loss of hearing caused to current or former members of the Defence Forces during their military service. A total of 254 claims have been the subject of court awards, with a further 7,194 claims being disposed of through out of court settlements. A further 372 claims have been either withdrawn by plaintiffs or dismissed by the courts. Some 7,782 claims are still outstanding.
On 24 January 2001, the High Court granted an adjournment of Army hearing loss claims from 5 February 2001, to facilitate out of court settlements under the early settlement scheme. In the six week period since that date, my Department has generated a total of 1,600 instructions to settle individual claims. Five firms of liability loss adjusters have been engaged by my Department to deal with approximately half of these instructions, with the remainder being dealt with by officials of the Chief State Solicitor's office. Some 154 firms of plaintiffs' solicitors have been included in the scheme and to date approximately 400 settlement offers have been accepted by plaintiffs, while many more offers have been recommended for settlement or are under active negotiation.
I am satisfied that the early settlement scheme represents a speedy and efficient mechanism of resolving the majority of outstanding hearing loss claims, while yielding considerable savings to the taxpayer on legal costs. It has operated successfully to date and I am anxious that the progress made during the adjournments can be maintained. In this regard, the question of further adjournments was reviewed by the High Court today and I can inform the House that Mr. Justice Johnson has extended the current adjournment for further review until 25 April 2001.
