Defence Forces warned it could be prosecuted for safety breaches over staff exposure to hazardous chemicals

Health and Safety Authority inspectors visited hangars and workshops at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, in December 2023, and numerous issues were raised in relation to health and safety of staff.

The Defence Forces was warned it could be prosecuted over health and safety breaches in the air corps in 2023, more than seven years after issues were first raised.

Health and Safety Authority (HSA) inspectors visited hangars and workshops at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel, Co Dublin, in December 2023, and numerous issues were raised in relation to health and safety of staff.

Details of the inspection have been released, as up to 20 men are taking a case against the State, claiming exposure to hazardous chemicals while working for the Air Corps.

They say they were not provided with personal protective equipment (PPE), or training in the handling or use of hazardous chemicals.

After the 2023 inspection, the HSA warned the Air Corps: “Failure to comply with this advice and relevant legal requirements may result in further enforcement action, including prosecution.”

On the day of the inspection, the HSA issued the Defence Forces with a contravention notice in relation to staff working with diisocyanates, which are highly reactive toxic chemicals used in foams, coatings, adhesives, and sealants.

Occupational exposure can cause severe asthma and, in some cases, cancer.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41800793.html

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Problems with Isocyantes were first noted in the Air Corps 30 years ago and reported in the Forbairt Report released in January 1997.

Delay – Deny – Die

Public health expert calls for probe into 400 Air Corps deaths

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 Irish Examiner 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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Delay – Deny – Die

Chemical concerns: Former Air Corps staff allege toxic exposure

“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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Delay – Deny – Die

A young military apprentice died in Co Kildare 35 years ago. Now a tribunal is investigating his death

Oliver Mullaney (19) had been in the military for only 20 months at time of his death at Devoy Barracks in Naas

The death of a 19-year-old apprentice at a Defence Forces barracks some 35 years ago is being examined by a tribunal into complaints of abuse within the military.

The Defence Forces tribunal is about to make an order for discovery of all military files relating to the death of Private Oliver Mullaney, an apprentice who died at Devoy Barracks in Naas on June 22nd, 1991.

Mullaney was a trainee motor mechanic who had been in the Defence Forces for only 20 months at the time of his death. He was from Sheffield, a townland just outside Leitrim village that was known as “Sheafield” at the time of his death. His parents were Joseph and Mary Mullaney, and he had three brothers and two sisters.

On the night of Saturday, June 22nd, Mullaney was on sentry duty at Devoy Barracks, which served as the Army apprentice school from the 1950s until it closed in 1998.

At about 9.15pm, three gunshots were heard. Mullaney suffered a head wound and died instantly. The fatal shots came from Mullaney’s own gun, a Steyr 5.56mm assault rifle. Reports in local and national newspapers the next week said the Army was treating his death as accidental.

It was reported at the time that the Army would hold an internal inquiry into the 19-year-old’s death, with an investigation also launched by gardaí at Naas. There is no record of the inquiry’s findings ever being made public.

A spokesman for the Defence Forces said: “Óglaigh na hÉireann is committed in its full support and co-operation with the tribunal of inquiry. However, as this matter is currently before the tribunal, it would be inappropriate to provide a comment.”

Read the full article by Ellen Coyne of the Irish Times below.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026/02/10/death-of-young-defence-forces-apprentice-in-1991-examined-by-tribunal/