A soldier who was in the Army Ranger unit when he dislocated his ankle in his first parachute jump has been awarded €80,000 damages by the High Court.
Mr Justice Bernard Barton said Cpl Gerard Kirby is a career solider who considers the Army to be his life and whose disappointment at being unable to serve as a front line soldier due to his injuries was to be taken into account in assessing damages.
Cpl Kirby is now stationed in Cork in a different section of the Defence Forces. He fractured his ankle and later needed surgery when he injured it in his first parachute jump at the Curragh Camp while training in July 2010.
He sued the Minister for Defence, Ireland and the Attorney General.
Liability was denied.
In his judgement, Mr Justice Barton said notwithstanding the soldier was warned about, and had accepted, the risks involved when he enrolled on the training course offered by the Army Parachute Training School, he was entitled to expect he would be provided with such equipment, information, instructions and training as was reasonable and practicable to enable him perform his first parachute jump safely.
Source: Irish Times
