The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, has warned that some of the compensation cases brought by soldiers against the Department of Defence are capable of setting a pattern for litigation which could have enormous repercussions.
"Ambulance-chasing solicitors are not just going to chase ambulances to the Department of Defence - they will follow them to industry and private enterprise and wreak havoc there, too, if something is not done to stop this appalling compo-culture that has set in to Irish society.
"This `me in the beginning, me at the end and only me' attitude has to be stopped."
He said employers everywhere faced the potential of being sued for hosting social events for staff or being responsible for the weather conditions in which work was carried out. Society was being held to ransom by a minority of greedy and selfish people.
"Irish soldiers have shown enormous bravery in the field of action and a real professionalism in carrying out their duties at all times, and I am not going to allow that record and reputation to be tarnished.
"Nor will I stand by while people who have genuinely suffered are being used to open up a vista for litigation in this country that has no horizon."
Mr Smith said that, with the economy doing so well, there was now money to go round and help the marginalised, the underprivileged and the disabled.
"The sharing out of that money to people we did not look after well enough in the past is now genuinely, seriously in jeopardy. My Department could end up taking finance from education, health and social welfare to pay inflated costs and claims. Financing the Army itself is under threat."