THE State was ordered by the High Court yesterday to pay £20,000 to a woman who claims she can no longer have normal sexual relations with her husband, a former Army private, after he suffered injuries to his genitals in an explosion.

Ms Finola McKinley, of Sliabh Snacht, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, sued the State for loss of companionship of her husband, Mr Seamus McKinley. He was injured in an explosion in a quarry near Dungloe, Co Donegal, on February 17th, 1981. He was blowing up surplus explosives.

Mr Justice Carney, in a reserved judgment, said that, before the accident, Ms McKinley and her husband had a good sexual relationship which she said was important to her as she was an emotional person who needed a lot of reassurance.

When her husband came home from hospital there was no sexual relationship and none was attempted for a year. The attempt then was unsuccessful.

After nine years, the couple discovered testosterone injections. During the nine year period, Ms McKinley said she was still young, still had all the feelings but he did not. She said she just had to bottle it all up.

As a consequence, Ms McKinley's ability to have sexual relations with her husband had been severely impaired and she had been deprived of the opportunity of bearing any further children. Mr McKinley had received a substantial sum as compensation for his injuries.

Mr Justice Carney said Mr McKinley had suffered destruction of his testicles and had been left impotent and infertile.

His impotence responded to testosterone injections and this treatment would be needed indefinitely.

He said that on the date of the accident two Army officers came to the door and said her husband was involved in an accident but that it was not too serious. Ms McKinley went to the hospital and he was wheeled in accompanied by a priest.

He suffered, among other injuries, a gross loss of tissue in the perineum and buttocks, rupture of the scrotum and loss of most of the testicular tissue.

Ms McKinley claimed in 1984 in the courts she suffered loss and "impairment of consortium" with her husband. The law at the time allowed only the husband to claim such rights. (Loss of consortium can mean loss of companionship, rendering of services, sexual intercourse and affectionate relations between spouses).

Later, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Ms McKinley and removed the discrimination against the wife. Mr Justice O'Flaherty, one of the Supreme Court judges, said the benchmark in this particular type of case - loss of consortium of a husband - should be the figure provided by the Oireachtas for mental distress.

The current figure for mental distress is capped at £20,000. Mr Justice Carney yesterday said he proposed to award this sum.

The judge referred to coverage of the Supreme Court phase of the case in the Star. He said the newspaper had interested itself in the case so that it could run the headline: "Wife sues as Private hubby loses his privates".

"This reporting was, in my view, despicable," said the judge.