The widow of one of four Air Corps crewmen killed in the Tramore disaster just over four years ago is to receive €1.1 million in compensation under the terms of a High Court settlement approved yesterday.
Mr Justice White approved the settlement and costs at the High Court sitting in Waterford following a claim by the widow of the captain of the Dauphin helicopter which crashed with the loss of four lives in the Tramore sand dunes in July 1999.
The action was taken by Ms Maria O'Flaherty, widow of the late Capt Dave O'Flaherty, of Tullamore, Co Offaly, who was commander of the search-and-rescue helicopter based at the South East Regional Airport (Waterford).
Liability was conceded by the Minister for Defence, who consented to the judgment of €1.1 million plus costs.
For the plaintiff, Mr Liam Reidy SC said it was a tragic case arising out of the helicopter crash on July 1st, 1999, the first day of service for the helicopter based in Waterford.
The most significant item favouring the plaintiff was that the defendants admitted they were fully responsible for the death of her husband and, by implication, the deaths of the three other crew members Capt Michael Baker, Enniscorthy; Sgt Paddy Mooney, Co Meath; and Cpl Niall Byrne, Killiney.
Mr Reidy said that at the time of Capt O'Flaherty's death his widow was in her early 30s and pregnant with their daughter. The deceased had been in the Air Corps from 1989 to the time of the accident and he had sought the necessary form to sign in order to seek the consent of the Minister to start work as a commercial airline pilot in the year following the fatal accident.
He had also armed himself with a commercial pilot's licence, and the probability was very high that he would have left the Air Corps and become a commercial pilot, and his level of potential earnings was based on this. Ryanair was at the time employing pilots, and Capt O'Flaherty would have had no difficulty getting employment.
The €1.1 million settlement brings to an end a four-year wait for Ms O'Flaherty. An official investigation into the deaths of the four airmen in the Tramore disaster identified a lack of ground support for the Air Corps crew and inadequate safety and training procedures as major contributory factors to the tragedy.
The General Officer Commanding (GOC) Air Corps, Brig Gen Patrick Cranfield, said subsequently that he would be implementing the report's recommendations as a matter of urgency, and deflected criticisms of training and safety procedures.
It was the worst accident in the history of the Air Corps and left the Defence Forces facing searching questions from the grief-stricken families.
A 103-page report produced by the Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) identified two active causes, six contributory causes and nine systemic causes for the crash. The investigators made 25 recommendations and highlighted serious deficiencies in support for the four crewmen.
The main cause of the tragedy is identified in the report as a collision with a sand dune after an unsuccessful approach on Tramore beach at night in what was described as "extremely poor" visibility. The weather in Tramore Bay was said to be so bad that a successful landing would have been virtually impossible.
The report specifically noted that considerable pressure was brought to bear on the late Capt O'Flaherty as detachment commander to accept the rescue mission in search of a small boat with four adults and a child on board off Dungarvan, Co Waterford.