THE Department of Defence is being sued by a former Army officer who claims he has partially lost his hearing as a result of the effects of gunfire and explosives, Dublin Circuit Civil court has been told.
Mr Desmond O'Neill, counsel for an ex Cavalryman who is claiming up to £30,000 damages from the State, said it was accepted by the Department that cotton wool for their ears was never issued to soldiers. He said it was also accepted that although the Department decided in 1973 that ear defenders should be worn by soldiers operating on a military target range, they were not made available until the early 1980s.
Retired Cavalry Commdt Edward Horgan, of Charnwood, Newtown, Castletroy, Co Limerick, told Judge Harvey Kenny that his hearing deteriorated after retiring from the Army in April 1986.
He claimed the military authorities had been aware of a defect in his hearing in 1985 but that an Army specialist had told him his hearing was as one would expect of a man of his age. He said that since retirement he experienced increasing problems.
Judge Kenny, who will complete the case today, was told that the Department's defence would be that Commdt Horgan's action was statute barred.
Earlier yesterday, Judge James Carroll spoke of the "shame" of the State in defending the case on the basis that it was statute barred.
Judge Carroll said if the State and its executive arm wished to shoulder this rather ignoble burden, it was a matter for them. He would decide the case according to law, notwithstanding his admitted disgust. It was a disgraceful plea.
Mr Eugene Gleeson, counsel for the Department of Defence, said he felt he should register the State's surprise at Judge Carroll's comments. The State was entitled to raise the issue in the defence.
"In light of your remarks that it was shameful for the State to plead statute, I am reluctantly asking you to disqualify yourself from hearing the case," Mr Gleeson said.
Judge Carroll said he was quite willing to do so. He asked that the action be reassigned to another judge.