The Government's latest attempt to deal with the problem of Army deafness claims has been criticised as "minimalist" and "consitutionally questionable" by Opposition parties.

In a second stage debate on the Civil Liability (Assessment of Hearing Injury) Bill, 1998, the leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said it was "virtually certain that the Bill will face legal challenge in the courts".

He said provisions in the Bill, enabling a new hearing loss standard to apply to all present as well as future claims, were unlikely to be found constitutional.

However, the Minister for Defence, Mr Michael Smith, said he had been advised by the Attorney General that "there are no constitutional difficulties with the Bill" because it would be applied in the courts only on a voluntary basis.

The Bill would require the courts to take into account the disability assessment formula contained in the report of an independent expert group set up last August by the Government.

The report, known as the "Green Book" and published last month, sets specific hearing thresholds and provides for age-related hearing loss.

Mr Smith told the House that there were 10,500 Army deafness claims before the courts. The average compensation payment fell from £35,000 last year to about £20,000 when cases were adjourned last February.

He said he favoured the establishment of a tribunal to facilitate compensation payments but only after the current level of damages was reduced dramatically.

While he wished to see fair play for genuine claimants, he said "a situation where a large number of people receive some money, simply because they served in the Army, is unsustainable".

The Fine Gael spokeswoman on defence, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, said the Bill was merely "tinkering at the edges of a serious problem". She criticised what she called the State's three-pronged strategy of rubbishing the cases, stereotyping the claimants and the lawyers representing them, and leaving the matter to the courts.

Mr De Rossa accused the Minister of taking "a very macho approach" to the problem by depicting himself as "some sort of administrative Rambo who was going to rescue the taxpayer who was being held to ransom by greedy and opportunistic soldiers".

"But, so far, we have seen little evidence of results from this posturing."

The Labour Party spokesman on defence, Mr Jack Wall, said he welcomed the attempt to establish an independent standard to assess hearing loss.

However, he noted that the legislation did not require the court to accept the "Green Book" as the only reliable assessment.

"In light of this, it is difficult to see what can be claimed on behalf of the Bill. The question arises: is the Minister introducing this legislation merely for the sake of being seen to be doing something regarding the cases before the courts?"

Mr Wall said that the public image of the Defence Forces had been seriously damaged by the controversy, adding that "the most urgent task facing the Minister is to restore morale".