A former electrician at Leinster House has taken an action for damages in the High Court over his exposure to asbestos while working there.
Noel Hamilton, Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin, has sued the Commission for Public Works, Ireland and the Attorney General.
He claims he was exposed to large quantities of asbestos and suffered severe personal injuries.
The defendants accept Mr Hamilton worked at Leinster House and asbestos was present there. Liability is admitted and the case is proceeding before Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill to decide the nature of the injuries and the amount of damages to be awarded.
Opening the action, senior counsel David Hardiman, for Mr Hamilton, said his client had worked in the basement of Leinster House from 1979 to 1990 and had also worked at Dublin Castle. The heating system for the Dáil is in the basement and Mr Hamilton was exposed to airborne asbestos fibres in the course of his work.
Mr Hardiman said Mr Hamilton worked in a dusty environment. In the 1980s there was a large-scale removal of asbestos at Leinster House on two occasions. Mr Hamilton and his colleagues saw "fully suited spacemen" working at the removal of what was subsequently recognised as pipe-lagging containing asbestos.
Mr Hamilton took little note of it at the time, but in the 1990s he developed a dry cough, counsel said. His doctor referred him to a specialist and he still had a dry cough.
The notoriety of the dangers of asbestos had been greatly heightened for Mr Hamilton, counsel said. A number of persons who worked with Mr Hamilton at Leinster House are now dead, apparently from either cancer or respiratory problems.
Counsel said Mr Hamilton has a deep-seated anxiety in relation to asbestos which a consultant had described as the symptom of post-traumatic syndrome.
The case continues.