The Minister for Defence, Willie O'Dea, has said the final cost to the State of army deafness claims should be just under €300 million.
Mr O'Dea said that, on average, there is still one claim being made every week. This is down from 11 a week in 2002 and four a week last year.
To date, 16,726 claims have been made, 333 of which went to court, with 15,060 settled out of court. There are 1,333 cases still outstanding.
So far, the Department of Defence has paid out €277.3 million, with a further €93.3 million in legal fees.
Mr O'Dea said the early settlement scheme meant the cost to the State had been greatly reduced.
