The withdrawal of the work-related deafness action against the ESB yesterday demonstrates the aggressiveness with which public utilities are fighting what they see as speculative claims.
Mr Bernard Farrell withdrew his claim after one day of a planned three-day hearing of his action for damages against the ESB. He had claimed his hearing was damaged by the noise at Poolbeg generating station and that he received no ear protection until 1987.
On Tuesday, counsel for the ESB said noise regulations came in in 1975 and warning signs telling staff to wear ear-muffs were on display from 1977.
A statement from the ESB yesterday welcomed the outcome of the case and stressed the value the company placed on Mr Farrell as an employee. It added: "It is unfortunate the case went this far with the attendant publicity for Mr Farrell."
This was a clear reference to the interviews Mr Farrell's solicitors, Lawline, which has a full-page display advertisement in the Golden Pages, gave to the media on Monday, in which parallels were drawn with Army deafness cases. The State has paid out £144 million in compensation and legal costs, arising out of 7,678 cases. A total of 7,587 cases are outstanding.
It is understood the ESB was putting considerable resources into fighting the Farrell case. It was to call 22 witnesses, including co-workers, medical and safety experts, station engineers and supervisors. It is also understood that an earlier case, represented by a different firm of solicitors, was withdrawn before getting to court on May 3rd.
Another case is due to start next Tuesday. The Lawline solicitor in charge of these cases, Ms Caoimhe Haughey, told The Irish Times on Monday that dozens of other cases were being prepared. It is not clear if next week's case will go ahead. Ms Haughey was in consultation all afternoon yesterday and was not available for comment.
The ESB is likely to fight these cases with equal vigour, mirroring the aggressiveness with which public utility companies are facing negligence claims. Along with Iarnrod Eireann, Dublin Bus and Dublin Corporation, the ESB has established a database to identify patterns in negligence claims.