A former Army sergeant was "castigated" over wearing ear muffs during an Army shooting competition in the 1970s and was ordered to remove them, the High Court was told yesterday.
Mr William O'Brien (51) of Slaney, Raheen, Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, said an Army captain ordered him to take the muffs off "because they were not issued by the Army and that I had an advantage over the rest of the shooting team". The former sergeant made the claim while giving evidence during his action for damages for hearing loss.
The case, against the Minister for Defence, Ireland and the Attorney General, was settled for an undisclosed sum before Mr Justice Johnson.
Mr O'Brien said he had been on an Army shooting team from 1972 and had also been an instructor regarding all weapons.
He said he was frequently on the firing ranges and was not provided with hearing protection. He had brought his own hearing protection on to the range sometime in the 1970s.
He had suffered from ringing in his ears and headaches from the noise of weaponry. In 1993 he had undergone a hearing test. He said he never complained about his ears because he would be called "a jibber".
Mr Alan Mahon SC, for Mr O'Brien, said his client's most severe problem was tinnitus and this was worst in his left ear. He had problems carrying on conversation where there was background noise.