There will be no avalanche of compensation claims by soldiers who have suffered sunburn, according to PDFORRA, the organisation representing Defence Forces personnel.
The group's general secretary, Mr John Lucey, was responding to news that a soldier has started a case against the State for skin cancer he claims was caused by exposure to the sun in Lebanon. Mr Lucey said he had been aware of "four or five" similar claims being considered. "This is not at all the same as the hearing issue. There is no likelihood of an avalanche of claims," he said.
The Department of Defence has said it will strongly contest the case. An Army spokesman, while not commenting on the case, said soldiers on tours of duty were expected to use a special daily allowance for toiletries including sun block.
He said the Army could take internal action against soldiers deemed guilty of self-inflicted injury, which could include sunburn. All soldiers who served in Lebanon did so voluntarily: "Nobody is detailed to go there".
But Mr Lucey said the Army had a duty of care and in this soldiers enjoyed the same rights as other citizens. "These are individual cases and we are happy to let the courts look at them as such. If the courts throw them out, so be it," he said.
"Our concern is that somebody is feeding this stuff out in such a way as to reflect badly on the Defence Forces. There's a definite campaign afoot to prepare the way so that the Public Accounts Committee and others can do something about it."
