The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has confirmed he will be appearing in the High Court today to seek a further postponement of Army deafness cases.
The Minister is expected to seek the deferral on the basis that his legal team requires more time to examine the findings of the expert hearing group, issued 11 days ago.
There have been no deafness cases heard for over two months after the courts agreed to postpone cases while the hearing group conducted its study. Mr Smith is likely to request a considerable delay so the Cabinet may be briefed on the study and its implications, along with his legal team.
The Government may then decide to introduce new legislation to deal with the claims. Ideally, the Department will be hoping for cases to be put back to September or October to allow all options be explored.
There are over 12,000 claims against the Department from retired and serving members of the Defence Forces. If the standards for deafness set by the expert group are found to be acceptable by the courts, it would still allow about 70 per cent of cases go to a full court hearing if the claimants so desired.
If the courts accepted the findings of the expert group and the Government introduced legislation based on those findings, it could reduce some of the claims substantially. However, the Exchequer would face an estimated bill of between £1.5 billion and £2 billion.
The expert group included medical consultants and audiological scientists. It has laid down standards for assessing physical disability.