Defence hearing loss payouts lower

Serving and former members of the Defence Forces suing the State for loss of hearing are now receiving average compensation payments of €8,900, significantly lower than the €30,000 average payments made when the claims began.

The Government is confident, following the success of an early settlement scheme introduced in 2001, that the cost of disposing of all hearing-loss claims will be around €300 million, and not €1 billion, as had been feared.

Under the early settlement scheme, almost 5,500 claims have been disposed of. Savings have been made on legal costs through the general acceptance by solicitors of an agreed schedule of costs.

To date, a total of 13,913 claims have been settled, at a cost of €269 million. The average size of settlements has continued to fall in 2003, from €10,000 in 2002 to €8,900 today.

The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said the savings achieved would allow funds to be invested in defence, health and education projects.

"It looked like we were facing a staggering bill of over €1 billion, but by doggedly sticking to a determined strategy, overall liability will be reduced to €300 million, still a considerable sum, but far more favourable than what was originally feared," he said.

In July 2002 the Minister announced that the early settlement scheme would not be used to process any hearing-loss claims lodged after that date.

Any subsequent claims are being contested by the State on the grounds that they are statute-barred.

That policy was pursued on the grounds that the issue had been in the public domain for over 10 years and because the Government was anxious to encourage any outstanding claimants to lodge their case immediately to bring all cases to a close.

The Department also decided to pursue unsuccessful plaintiffs for costs relating to claims lodged after July 2002.

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