Ex-soldier stung by scorpion settles action

A man left with a serious heart condition after being stung by a scorpion while serving with the Irish Army in Lebanon nearly 33 years ago has settled a legal action over his pension entitlements.

William Moran of Battery Heights, Athlone, Co Westmeath, was stung in 1980 while on duty for the UN, the High Court heard last April when his lawyers got permission to challenge a decision by the Minister for Justice to only award him a disability pension dating from 2006.

The court heard, following his service in the Lebanon, that Mr Moran was diagnosed with congestive cardiomyopathy and was placed on a waiting list for a heart transplant.

He applied for a pension in 1985 but the Army pensions board refused after deciding, while he was suffering from a 70 per cent disablement, there was not enough evidence to link his condition to the scorpion bite. He was told he could reapply if new evidence became available.

After a number of years, such evidence did become available and Mr Moran reapplied to the Minister, who referred his case back to the pensions board, which found his condition attributable to the bite, counsel said.

The matter went back to the Minister, who decided Mr Moran was entitled to a pension backdated to June 2006 but gave no reasons for choosing that date.

Costs agreed

In his High Court action, Mr Moran sought orders quashing that decision and requiring the Minister to reconsider the matter.

Yesterday, the president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns heard the Minister had now accepted Mr Moran’s illness was the result of the scorpion bite and he was no longer seeking those orders.  Costs had been agreed between the parties, the court was told.