State seeks to adjourn deafness cases

The State is seeking to adjourn until Easter all outstanding Army deafness cases so it can focus its resources on trying to secure out-of-court settlements. This would save the taxpayer millions of pounds, the High Court was told yesterday.

The State says an adjournment could see 3,000 cases settled this year of about 8,000 hearing-loss cases estimated to be outstanding. It also claims that the early settlement scheme has saved the taxpayer between £4-5 million to date or an estimated £4,000 in each case, mainly in legal costs.

Mr Henry Murphy SC, for the Minister for Defence, said an adjournment could lead to more cases being settled. The State did not have the staff to deal with court listings and the services of the early settlement scheme and found it "effectively impossible" to deal with both.

If the State was given "a proper run" with the settlement scheme, it could deal with up to 3,000 cases a year, he said.

Mr Justice Johnson said the court was disposing of 60-80 cases a week. He had noted that no negotiations were taking place in the hearing-loss cases until a case was allocated to a judge and he wanted to know if there was a reason for that.

He would decide on the application in two weeks. Earlier, Mr Alan Mahon SC, representing a number of solicitors mainly in Co Kildare and the midlands, said his instructions were to oppose vehemently the adjournment application.

There was a greater turnover of cases when they were listed before the courts than was happening under the "so-called" settlement scheme. The soldiers had a constitutional right to have their cases listed.

Mr Bruce Antoniotti SC, for several firms of Dublin solicitors, said his figures showed more cases were disposed of when listed than when the settlement scheme was operating.