Asbestos claims - Taxpayers face huge claims bill

COMPENSATION payments totalling over £1 million for 11 Irish victims of asbestos-related diseases underline the potential fallout of a health catastrophe that promises to overshadow the army deafness crisis.

With the State facing a virtual avalanche of claims from workers who claim they were exposed to the hazardous product, the final cost to taxpayers could run to tens of millions of euros.

Now scarring one out of every seven people in the western countries, asbestos is estimated to be killing around 30,000 people a year. The scale of health problems associated with asbestos in this country is reflected in the fact that almost half of the personal injury claims which the State is facing relate to the cancer-causing product.