Vol. 542 No. 4
32 Mr. Rabbitte 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. [24498/01]
By 16 October 2001 a total of 15,991 claims had been received in my Department from current and former members of the Defence Forces in respect of loss of hearing allegedly caused during their military service. Some 255 claims have been the subject of court awards with a further 9,437 being disposed of through out-of-court settlements. A further 418 claims were either withdrawn by plaintiffs or dismissed by the courts. Some 5,881 claims were outstanding on 16 October 2001.
Following the judgment of the Supreme Court in the leading Army hearing loss case of Hanley, which was delivered in December 1999, my Department in conjunction with the Chief State Solicitor's office and in consultation with the Law Society of Ireland, established an early settlement scheme, ESS, for dealing with the outstanding Army hearing loss litigation claims. The scheme operated successfully on a pilot basis during the year 2000 and 1,099 claims were settled by way of direct negotiations between solicitors representing plaintiffs and officials of the Chief State Solicitor's office and my Department.
Given the success of the pilot scheme, my Department expanded the ESS in January of this year. In this regard, five firms of liability loss adjusters have been engaged in order to expand the capacity of the scheme and to augment the resources of the Chief State Solicitor's office in conducting settlement negotiations.
The scheme has continued to operate successfully and the current position is that by 16 October 2001, a further 1,840 claims had been resolved, while I understand that settlements have been agreed with plaintiffs' solicitors in a further 220 cases. In addition, negotiations are ongoing in a further 1,590 claims.
In this regard, it is the policy of my Department to resolve the majority of outstanding claims under the scheme. The scheme has now reached a stage where many hundreds of plaintiffs have had their claims resolved at fair levels of compensation, with significant savings to the Exchequer in court costs. While some claims will continue to be listed for hearing in court, I am hopeful that the early settlement scheme will continue to operate successfully and that the vast majority of the outstanding claims will be resolved in this way.
