Vol. 552 No. 1
26 Ms O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Defence the total 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 total 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. [11787/02]
By 31 March 2002 a total of 16,125 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. A total of 254 claims have been the subject of court awards with a further 10,904 being disposed of through out-of-court settlements. A further 505 claims were either withdrawn by plaintiffs or dismissed by the courts. The number of claims outstanding is 4,462. Following the December 1999 judgment of the Supreme Court in the leading Army hearing loss case, Hanley v. Minister for Defence, my Department, in conjunction with the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and in consultation with the Law Society of Ireland, established an early settlement scheme for dealing with the outstanding Army hearing loss litigation claims. The scheme operated successfully on a pilot basis during 2000 and 1,099 claims were settled by direct negotiations between solicitors representing plaintiffs and officials of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor and my Department.
The second phase of the early settlement scheme commenced in January 2001. Five firms of loss adjusters were engaged to augment the resources of the Office of the Chief State Solicitor in negotiating settlements with plaintiffs' solicitors. This second phase has been successful in settling a further 2,733 cases. On 20 March 2002 the High Court in Dublin granted an adjournment in Army hearing loss litigation for most of the Easter term with cases only being listed for the last eight days of term. Any adjournment such as this is helpful as it allows staff in my Department to devote more time to achieving settlements under the scheme. I am happy about the success of the scheme and the results achieved and hope the vast majority of the 4,462 outstanding claims will be settled in this way in order that the remaining plaintiffs can have their claims resolved at fair levels of compensation with significant savings to the Exchequer in court costs.
Is the Minister satisfied that all efforts have been made, in respect of equipment, etc., to ensure that the difficulties which arose in these cases will not recur? I accept that one can never say never, but, on foot of what has been learned through the various claims, court cases, etc., is the Minister satisfied that this problem will never again arise on the same scale and that the Defence Forces have put in place the proper criteria to deal with this matter which has had such traumatic effects on their members and which has led to major costs being incurred by the Exchequer?
I am not certain that the lack of adherence to what were accepted principles in regard to safeguarding the hearing of those involved in Defence Forces operations would have been either the cause or the problem in all cases, but it was certainly a problem in a significant number of cases. I hope I am correct in stating that only one claim was made in the period after the measures were put in place to ensure 100% application of the hearing protection guidelines. That case did not proceed and it was certainly not successful. That indicates a strong adherence to the hearing protection mechanisms the Defence Forces are developing and monitoring on an ongoing basis. There is no excuse for proper precautions not being taken, even though I have noticed people using jackhammers and other tools on the streets and not using the proper protection. Perhaps my eyesight is not as good as it should be, but I do not see these people acting in the way they should. There may be a need for organisations other than the Defence Forces to take action in this area. However, I am satisfied that current measures are adequate to ensure that we will never again be faced with this kind of problem.
