In 1990, RTE radio’s Gay Byrne & Joe Duffy paid a live visit to the Irish Air Corps at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel. Since the above photo was taken, 94 serving & former Air Corps personnel have suffered untimely* deaths, dying at an average age of 53 years.
Many more personnel along with their partners & children have suffered catastrophic physical & mental health issues due to decades of unprotected & unmitigated toxic chemical exposure including exposure to CMRs
Joe Duffy is now the host of Liveline but when Irish Air Corps survivors attempted to get on the show they were refused.
Uncritical Irish Air Corps PR pieces by RTE radio continue while RTE news ignores the toxic chemical exposure scandal that HSA inspectors described as “the worst case of chemical misuse in the history of the state”.
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Untimely* deaths of serving & former Irish Air Corps personnel
- 99 verified deaths have occurred in total since 1980
- 86 of these deaths have occurred since 2000
- 61 of these deaths have occurred since 2010
3 most significant causes of death
- 42% of deaths are from cancer
- 27% of deaths are from cardiac issues
- 15% of deaths are from suicide (at least 15 suicides)
*We record untimely as dying at or before age 66 (civilian pension age), average age of death is 53 years. We are counting deaths from medical reasons & suicide, we are not counting accidental deaths nor murder.
We are not stating that every single death is directly due to chemical exposure but many personnel who did not handle chemicals directly were unknowingly exposed due to close proximity to contaminated work locations.