KENNETH Best, who was severely brain damaged after he was given a whooping cough vaccine as a baby, was paid Pounds 2.75 million in the High Court in May 1993.
Legal costs of the action, which had been before the courts for several years, were estimated at Pounds 4 million and were paid by the Wellcome Foundation, against which the action was brought.
The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that Mr Best had suffered brain damage following the first injection of an excessively toxic whooping cough vaccine.
At the time of the settlement Mr Justice Morris congratulated Mr Best's mother, Margaret, on her perseverance which, he said, was not on her own behalf but for the benefit of "this unfortunate young man".
Mrs Best began her legal battle in 1978 when Kenneth was nine years old. The judge also congratulated the counsel in the case because of their remuneration prospects had the case failed.
Kenneth Best was born in Youghal, Co Cork, on April 30th, 1969. He received the "three-in-one" injections the following September, October and November and as a result suffered a devastating brain injury. The court heard that it was entirely irreversible and left him in so far as his mental development was concerned "irreversibly frozen" at a point experts variously assessed at six to 18 months. He was expected to live a normal lifespan.
His behaviour is unpredictable and can become disruptive. He cannot be trained and is incontinent, with virtually no communication and no words of any kind. His mother can interpret differences in sounds he can make.
He has two sisters, Gemma and Carmel, who are very attached to their brother and have great affection for him.