“I never thought it would be so hard to get the right people to do the right thing for the right reasons,” 54-year-old former Air Corps technician, Gavin Tobin, told Prime Time.
Mr Tobin is one of around 20 men taking a case against the State – his case was lodged in 2014. He says he was exposed to hazardous chemicals in the period from 1991 to 1994 while working for the Air Corps and was not provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) or training in the handling or use of hazardous chemicals.
Gary Coll, 52, a technician who joined the Air Corps two years after Mr Tobin, told Prime Time they barely had the proper facilities to wash their hands.
“You had cold water. That’s all they had in any of the bathrooms. There was cold water and maybe a carbolic bar of soap or something.”
Air Corps technicians routinely used heavy-duty chemicals, for example, in stripping, cleaning or repainting engine parts.
“The chemicals that we’re considering here are mainly organic solvents,” says retired Toxicological Pathologist Professor Vyvyan Howard.
Prof Howard, who has examined around ten people who claim they were affected, is an expert witness for the plaintiffs.
“These compounds would cause what we call a diffuse neuropathy or a diffuse damage to the brain,” says Prof Howard. They “can also affect other organs like the liver”.
Before he became Taoiseach, Micheál Martin championed the example of Australia, which also had cases involving chemicals exposure within the Royal Australian Air Force.
The RAAF chemicals exposure issue related to the sealing and resealing of fuel tanks on F1-11 fighter bomber planes.
“It was prolonged repeated exposure to volatile organics, solvents, which were in the workplace … They were exposed without appropriate protective equipment,” said Australian immunologist Professor Peter Smith.
In 2000, within weeks of Australian authorities being alerted, an investigation began and the following year a Health Care Scheme was introduced for those thought to be affected.
“They dealt with the problem and wanted to make sure there was no ongoing further issues with current service personnel. And they wanted to make sure that people that had exposure were looked after,” Professor Smith said.
In 2017, Deputy Martin told the Dáil, “The Australian government’s approach was markedly different to that of the Irish government, which is to deny repeatedly and resist and, more or less, say to the whistleblowers that it does not accept anything they are saying.”
Read full article by Paul Murphy at RTE
https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2026/0226/1560464-chemical-concerns-former-air-corps-staff-allege-toxic-exposure/
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