The High Court awarded Garda Desmond Sheridan a total of €251,957.31 in compensation for personal injury, loss and damage arising from two incidents that the judge found caused post-traumatic stress syndrome or disorder. The judgment was delivered on 9 March 2007.
The award comprised €200,000 for compensation to date, €50,000 for future compensation and an agreed sum of €1,957.31. The court’s judgment does not provide a separate breakdown of the agreed amount.
The judge accepted that the Scotstown incident at the end of May 1979 and the Derada Wood (Ballinamore) incident in December 1983 caused Sheridan’s psychiatric problems. The incidents were described in his affidavit and oral evidence, but the judge did not repeat those accounts in the judgment.
Sheridan remained a member of An Garda Síochána as a Garda. The judgment said his problems had adversely affected him since they began and continued to do so. Referring to Dr Corry’s evidence, the judge said Sheridan was coming to terms with his condition and gaining insight that would help him cope, while remaining in the force meant he would continue to experience himself “quite literally, in the firing line”.
In assessing compensation, the judge applied the criteria used in personal injury actions in tort. The judgment said the award should account for pain and suffering, medical or surgical expenses, and the effect of the injuries on earning power and career prospects. It identified continuing pain and suffering, though expected to lessen, and reduced earning power in part because Sheridan could not seek promotion within the force.
The judgment referred to section 10(2) of the Garda Compensation Act 1941 and to the Supreme Court decision in O’Looney v. The Minister for the Public Service [1986] I.R. 543. It did not specify any separate order beyond the compensation award.