An Air Corps member whose hearing was affected by noise from the force's own jets and the Government jets was yesterday awarded £35,000 damages in an action against the State.
Cpl William Patrick McLoughlin, a serving member of the Defence Forces, now wears a hearing aid. He was granted £10,000 damages for pain and suffering to date and £25,000 for anticipated hurt in the future.
Cpl McLoughlin (37), of Hillcrest Drive, Lucan, Co Dublin, claimed damages for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus. He has been a member of the Defence Forces for the past 19 years, serving mainly at Baldonnel, and is attached to the ground staff in the Crash and Rescue Service unit of the Air Corps.
He claimed the Defence Forces were negligent in not furnishing him with adequate protection and that, as a result, he suffered innerear high-tone neuro-sensory hearing loss.
He said the tinnitus was maddening in intensity and prevented him from sleeping at night. His hearing loss was particularly troublesome when he was in crowds or noisy places.
Delivering judgment, Mr Justice Kelly said the evidence was that Cpl McLoughlin fired a variety of weapons during his recruit, and later his three-star-private training stages.
His work in the Air Corps also brought him very close to where aircraft engines were started. In particular, he gave evidence of being subject to a high-pitched deafening noise from the twin-engined Fouga jets three to four days weekly over the 14 years those craft were in service.
He also complained of extreme noise from the Government jets, the first of which, a Hawker Siddeley, was not allowed to land at certain European airports at night because of the noise. The second, a Gulf Stream jet, was also said to be very noisy.
Faced with such evidence it was no wonder the defendants - the Minister for Defence, Ireland and the Attorney General - had conceded negligence in the case, the judge said.
A few years ago the corporal had complained of hearing problems. After specialist examination, double ear protection was advised, he noted.
At home he required that the television volume be high in order to hear properly and, occasionally, he had not heard his own telephone ring. He had been subjected to jeering, albeit in jest, by his Air Corps colleagues over his hearing difficulties.
Even in court, Cpl McLoughlin had difficulty hearing and he had no doubt that his condition was genuine, Mr Justice Kelly said. Medical experts called for Cpl McLoughlin and the State had both testified to a marked hearing disimprovement in the corporal's left ear.
The judge said he was satisfied the reduction in hearing and the tinnitus suffered by the plaintiff were permanent conditions with no improvement likely in the future.