Garda receives €1.16m damages for back injury suffered during arrest

A garda and former captain of the Tipperary county hurling team has been awarded €1.16 million for injuries he suffered when kicked in the back while making an arrest.

Garda Aidan Flanagan (44) had arrested a youth in 2005 following a store burglary in which alcohol had been stolen. The youth had consumed a bottle of vodka and a quantity of tablets just prior to his arrest.

The handcuffed teenager had kicked Garda Flanagan in the small of the back as he tried to restrain him in the back seat of a Garda car.

Mr Justice Bernard Barton had earlier awarded Garda Flanagan part compensation of €175,000 general damages and €45,000 for loss of opportunity.

He had adjourned ruling a final outcome pending a review of ongoing negotiations between Micheál Ó Scanaill, SC, counsel for the Minister for Justice, and barrister Alan Keating, counsel for Garda Flanagan.

On Monday, Mr Ó Scanaill told the judge that a consent order for €1.16 million could be made in Garda Flanagan’s favour. The figure takes account of his past and present loss of earnings and a number of other considerations.

Mr Keating had previously told the court that a payment of €125,000 had already been made to Garda Flanagan pending the judgment and the ultimate settlement reached in negotiations.

The judge, in his earlier ruling, which followed a Garda Compensation hearing in the High Court, had stated that the ferocity of a blow Garda Flanagan had received to the base of his back had devastating consequences. The judge said Garda Flanagan, of Midleton, Co Cork, had suffered the injury when he was only 30 years of age and had made a substantial €1.47 million claim for general damages and recurring pecuniary losses.

Chronic pain

The judge said there had been a serious and significant deterioration in Garda Flanagan’s physical and mental capacity over the years as a result of chronic pain. He had felt he could no longer serve as a garda and had applied unsuccessfully to be retired on health grounds.

The judge said Garda Flanagan had grown up in Cashel, Co Tipperary, and had set out, following studies in University College, Galway, to carve out a career for himself in the Garda in which he also had a serving brother and sister.

He had been a fit young man who had a passion for hurling, a sport in which he had excelled to the extent that he had played for Tipperary and had won an all-Ireland medal at under 21 level, having been elevated to the senior panel and hurling for his county.

The judge said Garda Flanagan eventually faced financial embarrassment to the extent of attempts having been made to repossess his home and having to be treated in St John of God Hospital in Dublin.

Garda Flanagan had fought against being labelled as someone with a mental illness and had on a number of occasions sought to be allowed to retire on health grounds.

One of the issues before the court had been the fact that he had, prior to the 2005 assault, suffered back injuries in a car accident and in a slip and fall. The degree of force used by his assailant had been controversial during a 15-day hearing of the case.

The judge said Garda Flanagan’s pay had been reduced due to long absences from work to such an extent that he was unable to purchase the medication he required on a daily basis. While he remained a member of the force, he was on what was known as temporary rehabilitation pay.