One of Ireland’s leading public health experts has said there are grounds for an in-depth examination into the deaths of more than 400 serving and retired Air Corps personnel.
Professor Anthony Staines believes there are indications that the death rates among the personnel — around 200 of whom died under the age of 65 between 1980 and 2026 — appear to be “excessively high”.
Around 20 men are taking cases against the State amid claims they were exposed to hazardous chemicals while working for the Air Corps and were not provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) or training in the use of hazardous chemicals. Many worked with chemicals used to clean engine parts.
The data raises some questions which merit a more in-depth examination,” Mr Staines said. “You have to understand that people who joined the Air Corps would be among the fittest, and would have to pass many sorts of tests.
“Given the number of men who have died prematurely, there are — in my view — enough suspicious indications that there is something, or was something, going on. This might be due to errors in the data collected, but it could represent a real problem.”
Some of the data includes information relating to 115 premature deaths collated by Gavin Tobin, who has been campaigning for health care and other support for Air Corps personnel who were exposed to toxic chemicals when they served.
The rest of the data has been collated by the from a trawl through death notices. While it is estimated that since 1980 around 700 to 800 serving and former personnel have died, it was only possible to verify information in relation to 411 of them.
Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41800541.html
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