Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 30 Nov 1999

Vol. 511 No. 6

Written Answers. - Hearing Impairment Claims.

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

166 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence the discussions, if any, he has had with the representative associations on establishing a compensation tribunal to deal with Defence Forces deafness compensation claims; and, if so, if agreement has been reached with them. [25013/99]

Frances Fitzgerald

Ceist:

167 Ms Fitzgerald asked the Minister for Defence the preparations, if any, made by his Department to establish a compensation scheme to deal with cases taken in relation to deafness claims by members of the Defence Forces; the type of scheme he is considering establishing; the timetable for this scheme; the way in which he will establish a scale of compensation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25015/99]

Minister for Defence (Mr. M. Smith)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.

Work in relation to a hearing loss compensation scheme is well advanced in my Department in anticipation of the forthcoming Supreme Court judgment in the appeal case of Hanley v Minister for Defence. When the judgment is published, the details will be examined in my Department and the implications for the establishment of the compensation scheme will be assessed and costed.

It is my intention to recommend to the Government the establishment of a compensation scheme which will remove army hearing loss claims from the courts and which will be administratively straightforward. It will use the Green Book system of measuring disability and provide a level of compensation which will be fair to personnel who may have suffered damage to their hearing and also to the taxpayer.

I know there is a consensus of support for the establishment of a compensation scheme among the representative associations and to put the negative aspects of this issue behind us. I look forward to their further support in this regard in the future.