£650m estimate for Army hearing claims

Army deafness claims could cost the State £650 million, according to the secretary-general of the Department of Defence, Mr David O'Callaghan.

The latest estimate emerged in Mr O'Callaghan's presentation to a Dail committee yesterday. Mr O'Callaghan said the first test case based on the Department's Green Book, which set down standards for hearing loss, had set awards at £1,500 per percentage hearing loss. "That was something we thought we could live with even though it would cost us £250 million to get out of this nightmare."

However, a subsequent case awarded twice the £1,500 percentage loss according to age, and extra compensation for possible loss of hearing in later life.

Mr O'Callaghan said the State would have to appeal the High Court judgment and maybe introduce another test case and bring in experts again.

He told the Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights that 80 per cent of those claiming for hearing loss had less than 15 per cent hearing loss. "At 19 per cent handicap you can still hear whispered speech," he said.

Just under a third of the 13,639 claims lodged to date had been taken by serving soldiers, he said, agreeing that the number of claims now outnumbered the number of soldiers in the Defence Forces.

Of those cases only 1,975 had been dealt with, he said, and a total of £56 million paid out. "The cases are still coming in at a rate of about 200 per month on top of us."

The Fine Gael TD, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, asked whether the inability of the Defence Forces because of Irish neutrality to be involved in joint exercises with the UN Partnership for Peace (PFP) force had implications for resources.

Mr O'Callaghan said the Defence Forces felt they might get marginalised in peacekeeping operations.

"If we don't belong to one of these clubs we might find ourselves isolated, and that would be a pity." Membership of the PFP force would carry "no obligations other than a rededication of the UN charter," he said.