A judge has rejected a €30,000 settlement offer for a young girl who developed a serious stress disorder after having seen a helicopter explode in flames in the centre of Bettystown, Co Meath, 12 years ago.
Barrister Jennifer O'Connell told Judge John O'Connor that the then ten-year-old girl and her mother were lucky to have escaped death when the helicopter crash-landed within yards of them in the car park of the Neptune Hotel on 18 September, 2008.
Ms O'Connell told the Circuit Court’s first remote hearing of a civil case because of Covid-19, that Megan Whelan had seen her mother Angela Whelan hit by debris flying from the crash scene.
Judge O'Connor said the proposed settlement was not nearly enough for the significant psychiatric injuries Megan, who turns 18 in June, had suffered.
He refused to approve the offer made by defendants Barrack Construction Limited, Gp Helicopter Pilot Services and the pilot, William Curry.
Ms O'Connell said if the offer was not acceptable to the court, the teenager's legal team would be making an application to have the proceedings transferred to the unlimited jurisdiction of the High Court.
Angela Whelan suffered a hip injury from flying debris and had settled her claim several years ago.
She died in March 2019 and Ms O'Connell said her death was not related to the 2008 crash.
Leanne Cuffe, of Sraith Ban, Mullan Village, Monaghan, had taken over prosecution of the claim on behalf of her young sister.
Ms O'Connell said Megan had suffered a serious post-traumatic stress disorder including nightmares and flashbacks to the scene of the crash. She still had to deal with the trauma of hearing very loud noises and the sound of helicopters.
The helicopter had landed with two passengers on Bettystown beach in September 2008.
Due to the attraction of a large number of onlookers, the pilot of the Sikorsky S76B, William Curry of Kilcullen, Co Kildare, had decided to take off and land again in the hotel car park.
He was later prosecuted in the District Court where he admitted, among other charges, having flown in a reckless manner so as to endanger life or property.
He was fined €5,000 and given a suspended jail sentence of three months.
The Air Accident Investigating Unit had noted that during the re-positioning of the helicopter one of the blades had collided with a lamp-post which caused the aircraft to yaw and crash and burst into flames after the main rotor had hit the ground.
Captain Curry evacuated the helicopter without injury.
He had confirmed in the court hearing that he had seen the woman and child at a stage when he had been unable to abandon the landing manoeuvre in the hotel car park.
