Dáil Éireann – Page 4 – Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors

The Athlete I Married – Another human cost of the Irish Air Corps Toxic Chemical Health & Safety scandal

My husband joined the Irish Army Air Corps as an apprentice in 1991, he was 17 years old. He was so young in fact he was legally classed as a child soldier which required his parents to sign away their legal guardianship to the Minister for Defence. Prior to joining the Air Corps he was one of Donegal’s top junior athletes.

I met him in 1992 while he was still living in in the apprentice hostel accommodation at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel. At that stage he had already represented the Air Corps at athletics and was a regular member of their winning Business House League cross country team. At 18 years of he was running a 10k in 31 minutes and a 5k in 15 minutes. He was full of life and I remember meeting this force of energy. He was very funny and had more energy than I thought possible in one individual. Fast forward to 2017 and now aged 43 he can now only manage a 5k in his mobility scooter.

A year after I met him he graduated from the Air Corps Apprentice School and moved “up camp” to Avionics Squadron where within a few short months he became very emotional and started to suffer from extreme anxiety. He went, in a short space of time, from being a huge force of energy to an unpredictable troubled man and that is how he has remained.

Through 20 years of marriage and 24 of the 25 years that I have known and loved him I still feel lucky enough that he hasn’t lost all of his love of life. But although he is losing more of his physical ability each day he still manages a smile and he still loves me and the children. He still wants to be energetic for me and his family but as his list of medical problems get progressively worse his driving force gets more and more depleted.

24 years ago his medical problems started with anxiety & stress then a sudden loss of all pigmentation in his right leg & groin area where all the hair went white and all his skin pale after a tubbing incident with an unknown chemical. There is still a visible line with two different skin tones each side. Later followed stomach ulcers and Crohn’s like bowel problems which are a constant source of embarrassment.

Next started the nerve damage, pins & needles, loss of sense of touch in arms & legs and eventually sudden excruciating pain in random parts of the body as bad as a toothache but 1,000 times worse.

Then came the “in your head” diagnosis. The vast majority of Irish doctors & consultants simply have no experience of industrial diseases but they all have a deep need to “pigeonhole” and move on. As my husband got progressively worse his GP was convinced that he was simply malingering and suggested that he see a psychiatrist.

After suffering at the mercy of an unsympathetic Irish medical establishment for many years he finally discovered a specialist in Scandinavia who invited him over for tests. He has been diagnosed with Stage 3 Chronic Solvent Induced Encephalopathy. Stage 3 is the top of a 1 to 3 scale and means that damage has reached as far as his internal organs.

He has suffered Thermoregulation Vasoconstrictor failure, this means his body cannot control his body temperature, he sweats when he is cold, shivers when he is hot and every step in between.

And it goes on, he has suffered Cardioaccelerator failure of his heart. This means that his body cannot increase his heart rate when needed, so his heart constantly pumps at a slow rate meaning even climbing a stairs is like climbing Mount Everest to him. If his heart rate cannot speed up it cannot pump enough oxygen around his body causing huge fatigue. Staying with his heart he has also suffered Cardiodepressor function failure which results in complicated blood pressure problem. He also suffers Baroreflex Hypersensitivity.

These genuinely are only a fraction of the abnormal tests results, in fact we cannot understand many of the results as they are so technical but they prove why my husband is so weak & tired all the time.

This consultant Neurophysiologist confirmed that due to the litany of autonomic nerve damage there are only a few chemicals in use that can cause such damage. But one thing is certain, all of the chemicals that are capable of causing the injuries my husband suffers from were used in the Irish Army Air Corps with utter disregard to any chemical health & safety.

It is further shocking to learn that the failures of health & safety in the Air Corps that were present and known about in the 1990s, are only now being remedied in 2017. This took several protected disclosures to the Minister for Defence, the Chief of Staff and the Health & Safety Authority.

My husband held the Irish Defence Forces fitness test 2 mile run record for 15 years. It was 9 minutes 6 seconds and was only beaten about 6 years ago by another proud Donegal man. Today even his top of the range mobility scooter cannot beat that time.

Does anyone know what it feels like to watch the man you love go through all of this suffering & pain and to then watch the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the Junior Minister for Defence Paul Kehoe say in Dáil Éireann that the Irish Air Corps has a very high standard of health & safety?

It is like listening to a rapist defending himself in court by saying that he did what he did out of love…

Irish Army Air Corps pilot suspended after admitting taking cocaine before random drug test

An Air Corps pilot has been placed on administrative leave after admitting to taking cocaine, TheJournal.ie can reveal.

The experienced pilot was at work in Baldonnel Airfield on Monday when random drugs test was announced. Before he could be tested, the pilot admitted that he had cocaine in his system. The test still went ahead and the Defence Forces have opened disciplinary procedures.

A Second Life – Another human cost of the Irish Air Corps Toxic Chemical Health & Safety scandal

It was 1998 when my brother Stephen began feeling unwell. He started coughing a lot and needed a few pillows to sleep on. He was coughing a lot of fluid up from his lungs and was very short of breath. We all thought it was a bad chest infection but sadly within weeks everything got much worse.

My first recollection is of my mam & dad carrying Stephen to the car late one night. It looked so odd for him to have his arms over both their shoulders. When I looked closely only his tip toes were touching the ground, they were dragging him! I felt sick, I was 17 at the time.

Multiple late night visits to casualty became the norm in our house. He was told his heart was the size of a football and it was so weak that it couldn’t pump fluid away from his lungs. He was drowning. He was 24 or 25 years old and was very unwell. He was admitted to St Bricans Military Hospital in Dublin for review. That was the start of the waiting game. The doctors were trying to obtain a diagnosis , a cause and a treatment plan. It was never decided how this all came about. Maybe just a bit of bad luck!

Within weeks Stephen became very unwell. He was in agony with chest pain, stomach pains, hunger, thirst and every other symptom you can imagine. He often voiced that he couldn’t live like this and he didn’t want to anymore. He was admitted to the Mater and put on the heart transplant list. He was very very lucky to receive a new heart within months of his diagnoses, “Dilated Cardiomyopathy”.

For many years, Stephen led a normal life or perhaps that should be extraordinary, he travelled the world, he studied hard in college. It was hard to keep track of him. He had (and has) an amazing circle of family & friends. He worked hard to obtained a degree, a masters and had just started studying again for his doctorate shortly before he became ill again.

Throughout his life “post transplant” Stephen had to attend multiple Out Patient hospital appointments, he had to take medication every 12 hours and had a myriad of extra tests to endure. All his organs & body systems were affected. Throughout the years he suffered from stomach pains, kidney function issues & spontaneous pneumothorax. I’m sure there are plenty of other symptoms but he never complained and made it look easy.

Sadly, in December 2012, only months after he retired after 21 years service, Stephen lost that fight age 39. He always said his second life started post transplant. He was extremely grateful and led a life of healthy living. His level of fitness & nutrition stood to him. He didn’t want to waste a minute of his “second life”.

His heart finally failed during the night in the CCU in Beaumont Hospital. My colleagues worked extremely hard but it was too late. The day he was buried was the worst day of my life and I suppose the worst day of everyone who knew him. Stephen was supposed to be reading a best man speech for his friend Keith that day, not having a speech/eulogy read out about him.

It saddens me to think that his life was taken early and that it may have been prevented. We have all wondered over the years why his heart was affected and are still looking for answers.

Stephen worked in Avionics Squadron at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel. The Avionics workshops shared a building with the Engine Repair Flight (ERF) workshops where air quality tests were commissioned by the Irish Army Air Corps in August 1995. These independent tests found that Dichloromethane, which had a TWA legal limit of 50ppm, was measured in parts of ERF at 175ppm.

Avionics & ERF personnel were NOT informed by Air Corps health & safety management that the air quality was found to be over the health & safety limits but instead were left in the same dangerous working environment for a further 12 years. Air Corps health & safety management ordered these Air Quality test results destroyed in 2006/2007.

Read more about the cardiac, gastric, respiratory and other health effects of Dichloromethane (also know as Methylene Chloride) below.

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp?id=230&tid=42

Dáil Éireann Written Answers 29/03/17 – Irish Army Air Corps – Workplace Chemical Exposure Review

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if he will establish a review to determine if the chronic illnesses suffered by former Air Corps staff were as a result of exposure to chemicals while working at Casement Aerodrome. [15412/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

As I indicated in my responses to other recent Parliamentary Questions on this issue, a number of former and serving Air Corps personnel are suing the Minister for Defence alleging personal injuries arising from exposure to workplace chemicals. It is not appropriate for me to comment on this matter at this time as these cases are the subject of ongoing civil litigation before the High Court.

The Deputy will be aware that there are a number of processes already in train in relation to reviewing health and safety procedures in the Air Corps. Following a number of inspections at the Air Corps premises at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, in 2016, the Health and Safety Authority issued a report of inspection with a number of general improvements and recommendations for follow up. The Air Corps committed to addressing these recommendations as part of an eight phase implementation plan. I am advised that seven out of the eight phases are planned to be completed by May 2017.

In September 2016 I appointed an independent third party to review allegations made in a number of protected disclosures relating to health and safety issues in the Air Corps which were received in late 2015 and early 2016. Once a final review is to hand, I will determine any further steps required and ensure that all recommendations, whether arising from the work of the Health and Safety Authority or the ongoing protected disclosure review, will be acted upon to ensure the safety of the men and women of the Air Corps.

In the circumstances and pending the completion of the ongoing processes, I have no plans at this time to commission another review on this matter.

Dáil Éireann Written Answers 21/03/17 – Irish Army Air Corps – Contaminated Clothing

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if technical personnel in the Army and Air Corps are permitted to bring home issue overalls and other uniform clothing that have been potentially contaminated with toxic chemicals; and if he and or the Defence Forces have considered the possible contamination risk that poses whereby these items of work clothing may come into contact with items in the home. [13272/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I am informed by the Military Authorities that disposable coveralls are provided to personnel if an activity involves risk of contamination from toxic chemicals. I am advised that these coveralls are disposed of, immediately after use, using a chemical waste contract.

I am also informed that the Defence Forces policy on personal protective equipment (PPE) states that “personnel shall be provided with the necessary training and information on the use of the PPE.” The policy makes it clear that personnel must use the personal protective equipment correctly and whenever it is required, they must participate in any training or instruction provided on the fitting, use and inspection of personal protective equipment and they must look after it and store it in a safe location.

The other whistleblowers: Looking at the human cost of the #IrishAirCorps chemical scandal

AN AIR CORPS whistle-blower who claims he was exposed to harmful chemicals whilst in the force believes there could be more than 1,000 people affected by what he has described as “a scandal of the highest order”.

In an interview with TheJournal.ie, the man – who we are not naming as he has made a protected disclosure – detailed the trouble he experiences with daily life which he alleges traces back to his exposure to chemicals over a nine-year period at Baldonnel Airfield in west Dublin.

A 2016 inspection by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) identified a number of shortcomings at Baldonnel with corrective actions then taken by the Defence Forces in relation to how it handles such chemicals.

According to the HSA report seen by TheJournal.ie, the Air Corps was warned it could face prosecution if it did not “comply with advice and relevant legal requirements” about how hazardous substances were managed, among other safety matters.

No probe of Irish Army Air Corps chemical exposure

The Government says it has no plans to establish a review to determine if the chronic illnesses suffered by former Air Corps staff were as a result of exposure to chemicals while working at Casement Aerodrome.

This is despite similar studies and investigations in Australia and the Netherlands.

The State is currently facing six legal actions from former Air Corps staff, who claim their chronic illnesses were caused by their working conditions at the military airfield in south-west Dublin.

Meanwhile, an official has been appointed to investigate claims by three whistleblowers, who made a number of allegations around the current health and safety measures within the Air Corps.

Last October, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) issued a report calling on the Air Corps to implement a number of improvements on the management of staff exposure to hazardous chemicals.

However, responding to a question from Sinn Féin defence spokesperson Aengus Ó Snodaigh, junior defence minister Paul Kehoe said the Government did not intend to commission any specific study to investigate whether working conditions at Casement Aerodrome had an adverse effect on workers’ health.

“There are a number of processes already in train relating to reviewing health-and-safety procedures in the Air Corps,” said Mr Kehoe of the review of the whistleblowers’ claims and the Defence Forces’ response to the HSA report.

“In the circumstances and pending the completion of the ongoing processes, I have no plans to commission another review on this matter.”

Irish Army Air Corps: Concerns over scope of review of allegations made by whistleblowers

Concerns have been raised about the scope of the ongoing review of allegations made by Air Corps whistle-blowers. They claimed that staff were unnecessarily exposed to cancer-causing chemicals.

Last month, this newspaper revealed that the Health and Safety Authority threatened legal action against the Air Corps, unless it improved its management of technicians’ exposure to toxic substances.

The report came in October 2016, almost a year after three whistle-blowers made protected disclosures to the Government about Air Corps technicians’ exposure to harmful substances.

The Irish Examiner can now reveal that the independent third party appointed to review the protected disclosures, which were made between November 2015 and January 2016, has met with all three of the whistle-blowers.

Dáil Éireann Written Answers 21/02/17 – Department of Defence – Air Quality

Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the date of the most recent air quality test carried out within the Air Corps main technical stores, Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, and adjoining office complex; and if he will provide the results of this test. [8657/17]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)

I am informed by the Military Authorities that an air quality test was carried out in main technical stores, Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel and adjoining office complex on the 9th February 2017 by an external assessor. The report from this test is expected to be published 3/4 weeks from the date of testing.

Serving the State – Another human cost of the Irish Air Corps Toxic Chemical Health & Safety scandal

I’m writing this piece to give the reader an idea of the unusual life I have lived thus far and maybe by writing it to give myself some understanding of all that has happened me.

In 1989 I did my leaving cert and a year later joined the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the Irish Army. This was the beginning of my working life which has been spent always in the service of the state, something I am quite proud of.

After my basic training in the army I got an apprenticeship as an aircraft technician in the Air Corps. I had to discharge from the army and reenlist I think because this would mean I could be paid less as an apprentice. I didn’t mind. The future was bright.

When I was 22 my partner, later to become my wife and then ex-wife, gave birth to our daughter. At 23 I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of cancer. This was a terrible shock to me. I was attending St. Bricin’s military hospital but was sent to an outside hospital for diagnosis. I had no family or friends with me when I was told of my illness and had a non chatty army driver to return me to St. Bricin’s after hearing the news.

I was discharged from the military hospital and was sent to an oncologist in St Luke’s hospital in Rathgar. I began an aggressive regime of 6 months strong chemotherapy followed by 6 months of strong radiotherapy. This was an horrific period of my life but I lived. This was obviously a positive outcome. I was young, strong and very fit when I began the treatment, very keen on sports and my physical conditioning.

It took me 3 years, in my estimation, from diagnosis to getting back to the place I was before it all began. Looking back though I am not sure anyone ever truly”gets over” an experience like that. You learn to move on but always with your fragile mortality in mind.

I enjoyed my job in the Air Corps working primarily on the piston engined Marchetti Warrior aircraft. I worked on 2 “IRAN”‘s while employed there. This involves completely disassembling the aircraft, inspection and rebuilding of same. I was also heavily involved in the restoration of an Avro Anson and various other historical aircraft for the museum which was just beginning at the time.

During this work I was exposed to countless amounts of toxic chemicals with little or no protective equipment. But as it was the military orders were orders and I just did as I was told. I often wondered at the time was it this exposure that caused my cancer. I was never told any cause for my cancer and I suppose I could have been just unlucky.

I served for 11 years in the Air Corps and then I joined An Garda Siochana. I had no real idea of the job of a Garda and had no family or friends in that job but just felt like it was something I would like to do. I was right. I enjoyed the work and challenges from day one. I really felt I could make a positive difference to people’s lives. I discovered that I found studying the law enjoyable. A job where you could be as busy as you chose. I chose to be very busy. I earned numerous commendations for excellent police work, was awarded a silver medal for bravery and got to meet the president in Áras an Uachtaráin. With relatively short service in the guards I made it off the regular unit and was appointed into the traffic corps. After 12 years and the belief I was infertile my wife became pregnant again and I had a son. Then we planned again and 3 years later another daughter arrived. Life was good.

Or was it? I found in my mid 30’s I was suffering from anxiety for no reason. I fell into serious depression, again for no apparent reason. This depression was serious enough that I considered suicide and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for a time. I was having severe abdominal pain in sync with this. I was still very fit, had my own little gym in my garage and worked out every day. No logic could explain my anxiety or depression. The abdominal pain was diagnosed as a stomach ulcer. A stomach ulcer is no big deal in this day and age……it destroyed my life!

The normal treatment for a stomach ulcer today is a triple therapy of 3 different medications that kill that that helio-whatever bacteria. This didn’t work on me. Over a number of weeks as an in patient in a private hospital, fasting, the consultant tried every way he could think to cure me. He was unable. He informed me one Friday that he was going to a gathering of the most eminent gastro consultants over the weekend and that he intended to talk to the top professor in relation to my case. On his return he told me this professor was very interested in my case and would see me in St Jame’s hospital in Dublin.

I had a meeting with the professor who thought that surgery was the only option I had to get rid of this stomach ulcer I was suffering with. In May of that year I had the surgery during which 70% of my stomach was removed. I had a scar from my bellybutton to chest but the ulcer was gone. I went to Wexford with my family to a mobile home over the summer to recover after I was released from hospital. In September I began to feel unwell and got extreme pain even through the strong medications I was on. I have little memory of what happened next but now know that the wounds I had internally had failed to heal and the stitching burst inside. I was rushed to James where emergency surgery was performed and they managed to save me. I was in an induced coma for 2 weeks after this where I was in intensive care on life support. I contracted VRE and CRE which I believe are something similar to MRSA. To shorten the story this happened twice more to me. Each time I was in intensive care and each time I was very lucky to survive.

My marriage broke down. I lost my house. Because of the time period I wasn’t getting paid anymore and was on social welfare payments. Each time I went to hospital I had, and still have, to be in isolation because of my history. On one occasion a couple of weeks after a surgery I was moved from intensive care to a high dependency room. Normally when I got out of intensive care I would be overjoyed mostly because I would then have a toilet and not rely on nurses to help me and then clean me. On this occasion I just got into the bed and lay there. Something didn’t feel right but I couldn’t say what. An hour or 2 later I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I don’t mean shortness of breath or panting. I literally couldn’t breathe. I hit the nurses call button and thankfully she came straight away, saw what was happening and shouted for help. Again my memory is gone from this point but I later found out my sister was just arriving for a visit only to see my bed being rushed down a corridor by doctors. As she works in a hospital she happened to know one of the doctors in the unit. She asked what was happening and was taken to a family room to be told it was touch and go and that she should contact the rest of my family. This timing was messy because of my separation from my wife there was next of kin issues. I had had a pulmonary embolism which I believe is a clot in the lungs that stopped them working. I then spent another couple of weeks in intensive care but thanks to brilliant doctors I again survived.

Last year, 2016, there was only 2 months of that year in which I wasn’t an in patient of one hospital or another for varying lengths of time. In December, out of nowhere, I got double pneumonia and pulmonary sepsis. This happened within the space of 2 hours and again I may have died. I now use a nebulizer twice a day and an inhaler in an effort to get my lungs working correctly again. I have a new partner now and she is a living saint to put up with all the hardship I bring her. With her help I again have a home, after having to move back to my mother’s, and I can take care of my children.

Although long, this is only a synopsis of everything I have suffered in the past 5 years or so. I never told my consultant in James hospital that I had worked in the Air Corps and had been exposed to dangerous chemicals over a prolonged period. I just never joined the dots. I was a Garda. That was it. He was at a loss as to explain how so much went wrong with me even though the greatest care was given to me. He thought probably the radiotherapy from 20 years previously had damaged me. But if that had been the case more radiotherapy patients from that time would most likely have displayed similar symptoms and this is not the case. Having recently heard it mentioned in the Dáil and seeing it in the newspaper I have finally found a possible reason for what has happened me. I hurt all the time now, physically and mentally. My goals when I joined the guards all those years ago were to make a positive difference. I will never walk the beat again. I will never do a drug search or a check point ever again. I’ll never do all those things I loved in the police ever again.

Now my goal is to live to see my youngest kids grow to adulthood. That is my challenge. I hope I can achieve it and I hope I haven’t bored you.