A settlement has been reached in a High Court action by a man who sustained severe injuries, leaving him a paraplegic, after he struck a rock while diving into the sea at the Forty Foot bathing point in Co Dublin.
Last month Mr Justice de Valera made a preliminary finding that Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was 80 per cent responsible and Sandycove Bathers' Association 20 per cent responsible for the accident, which happened to Mr Olan McGowan.
The judge adjourned the case and, when it was mentioned yesterday, Mr James Nugent SC, for Mr McGowan (37), of Sandymount, Dublin, said the case had been settled without admission of liability. As part of the settlement, the defendants were to pay the plaintiff's costs.
Mr Denis McCullough SC said there would be an appeal on the liability issue. However, the judge was told, this appeal would not affect Mr McGowan's settlement and he would not be prejudiced.
The defendants had denied liability and had suggested that Mr McGowan had failed to have regard for his own safety and exposed himself unnecessarily to a risk of damage or injury of which he ought to have known. They also pleaded that Mr McGowan failed to take any or adequate precautions to ascertain the depth.
Last month Mr Justice de Valera said he was satisfied that the injuries suffered by Mr McGowan were caused by a rocky outcrop. It was invisible, and there was no indication of the danger. There was a duty of care on Dun Laoghaire County Council, but the council had done nothing as regards following safety recommendations, he said.