An information resource for serving & former members of the Irish Army Air Corps suffering illness due to unprotected toxic chemical exposure in the workplace.
There were also hazardous chemicals stored in open containers at the Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork late last year
Haulbowline Larry Cummins
A health and safety inspection at Naval Service headquarters resulted in the shutting down of a cadet canteen area after emergency exits were found blocked as well as damp and mould.
An inspector from the Health and Safety Authority visited the Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork late last year discovering fire doors that weren’t being properly maintained, open attic space between buildings, and storage of hazardous chemicals in open containers.
There were serious issues with a cadet mess building on the base with lower emergency exits “blocked by stairs” along with evidence of damp and mould on walls and floors.
The health and safety inspector asked the Naval Service to conduct an immediate review of the building in terms of its “fitness for use or occupation”. In early January, the Defence Forces wrote to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) to say it was no longer in active use.
A letter from Defence Forces Headquarters said:
“I can confirm and as per [our] action plan the Naval Service Cadets Mess is not used to accommodate any personnel following HSA inspection. Cadets [and] personnel were moved to alternative accommodation within the base.”
Read full article by Ken Foxe at the Irish Examiner
Despite repeated interventions by the Health & Safety Authority the Defence Forces cannot seem to get their houses in order.
The previous Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Mark Mellett was at the helm of the Defence Forces when the HSA threatened legal action against the Irish Air Corps.
Subsequently, Vice Admiral Mellett heaped praise upon then Brigadier General Seán Clancy as GOC Air Corps claiming that “Sean Clancy did a great job cleaning up the Air Corps” albeit after serving 30+ years in the same Air Corps he supposedly cleaned up.
Two service branches now under the command of Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, namely the Air Corps and the Naval Service, have yet again come under the spotlight for poor Health & Safety including hazardous chemical breaches.
The Defence Forces have so far been as high as the Supreme Court in attempts to defend against legal cases relating to poor health & safety and unprotected hazardous chemical exposure yet the HSA continue to find them in contravention of legislation designed to protected their personnel.
There is no accountability in this organisation when it comes to incompetence & negligence on Health & Safety issues because it simply does not have a culture of Health & Safety, a fact which successive Defence Ministers have been more than happy to ignore.
The personnel claim toxic fumes emitted from the aircraft caused their illness, and they are accusing the MOD of being negligent about the risk to their health.
The Sea King is one of the helicopter types whose exhaust fumes allegedly caused cancer among a number of former aircrew
The Ministry of Defence is being sued by crew members who have been diagnosed with cancer after serving on military helicopters.
The personnel claim toxic fumes emitted from the aircraft caused their illness, and they are accusing the MOD of being negligent about the risk to their health.
According to a report by The Times, crew members who served on board helicopters such as the Sea King, Wessex, Puma and Chinook are among those who are taking legal action.
It includes those who’ve served in the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force from a variety of ranks.
They are saying they were exposed to concentrated levels of toxic exhaust fumes during their flights.
At least three of the former personnel affected have already passed away, while others have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Five former service personnel have received out-of-court settlements, including a former flight sergeant who trained Prince William in the RAF.
It is being claimed the Government knew about the risk posed by the Sea King’s exhaust as far back as 1999, but aircrew continued to fly on board without safety precautions.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We hugely value our service personnel and veterans and owe a debt of gratitude to all those who serve, often with great personal sacrifice.
“We continually review our policies to ensure they are aligned with good practice and protect our people from harm.
Service personnel and veterans who believe they have suffered ill health due to service from 6 April 2005 have the existing and long-standing right to apply for no-fault compensation under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.”
Damaged drains, cables across hangar floors, a leaking oven, oil spills and a risk of Legionnaires’ disease… these are just a few of the workplace hazards inspectors found at Casement Aerodrome
Health and safety inspections on the Irish Air Corps discovered spills of hazardous brake fluid, a water supply that carried the risk of Legionnaires disease, fall risks, damaged drains and trailing cables across hangar floors.
The Defence Forces were also issued with a contravention notice by the Health & Safety Authority (HSA) over the use of some chemicals without proper training of personnel.
A separate report from December said that several safety data sheets were outdated and recommended additional training on the handling of specific restricted chemicals.
Read full article by Ken Foxe at the Irish Mail on Sunday via Pressreader…
Background: In support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed a toxicological review of trichloroethylene (TCE) in September 2011, which was the result of an effort spanning > 20 years.
Objective
We summarized the key findings and scientific issues regarding the human health effects of TCE in the U.S. EPA’s toxicological review.
Methods
In this assessment we synthesized and characterized thousands of epidemiologic, experimental animal, and mechanistic studies, and addressed several key scientific issues through modelling of TCE toxicokinetics, meta-analyses of epidemiologic studies, and analyses of mechanistic data.
Discussion
Toxicokinetic modelling aided in characterizing the toxicological role of the complex metabolism and multiple metabolites of TCE. Meta-analyses of the epidemiologic data strongly supported the conclusions that TCE causes kidney cancer in humans and that TCE may also cause liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Mechanistic analyses support a key role for mutagenicity in TCE-induced kidney carcinogenicity.
Recent evidence from studies in both humans and experimental animals point to the involvement of TCE exposure in autoimmune disease and hypersensitivity.
Recent avian and in vitro mechanistic studies provided biological plausibility that TCE plays a role in developmental cardiac toxicity, the subject of substantial debate due to mixed results from epidemiologic and rodent studies.
Conclusion
TCE is carcinogenic to humans by all routes of exposure and poses a potential human health hazard for noncancer toxicity to the central nervous system, kidney, liver, immune system, male reproductive system, and the developing embryo/fetus.
Untimely* deaths of serving & former Irish Air Corps personnel
105 verified deaths have occurred in total since 1980
92 of these deaths have occurred since 2000
67 of these deaths have occurred since 2010
We picked the 1st of January 1980 as an arbitrary date to start counting deaths from. Obvious earlier deaths are much more difficult to discover but either the rate of death is accelerating or we are missing many deaths from previous decades or possibly both.
Most Significant Causes of Death
Cause
Air Corps Cohort
Ireland
Cancer
43%
TBA
Cardiac
30%
TBA
Suicide
14%
TBA
Male Average Age of Death
53 years
80 years
Air Corps Untimely Deaths - Cancer
Type
% of Air Corps
% of IRL 3-Year
Difference
Lung
20.0%
16.1%
124%
Oesophageal
11.1%
4.3%
258%
Pancreatic
11.1%
4.4%
252%
Colorectal
8.9%
8.7%
102%
Blood
8.9%
6.9%
129%
Brain
8.9%
2.7%
330%
Skin
8.9%
1.6%
556%
Renal
6.7%
2.1%
319%
Prostate
4.4%
9%
49%
Salivary Gland
4.4%
2.1%
210%
Air Corps Untimely Deaths - Cardiac
Type
% of all (105) deaths
% of cardiac (31) deaths
Atherosclerosis
15%
52%
Ischaemic
5%
16%
Atherosclerosis & Ischaemic
Combined
20%
68%
Cardiomyopathy
5%
16%
Thrombosis
2%
6%
*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.
Cancer statistics for Ireland 3-Year are taken from NCRI Annual Statistical Report 2022 taking the 3-year annual average male cancer deaths from 2018 to 2020 inclusive. We are not statisticians & these figures have been compiled to the best of our ability.
This morning at 1130hrs on Monday the 1st of January 2024 a list of 105 untimely / premature deaths of serving & former Irish Air Corps personnel was delivered to the gate policeman of Áras an Uachtaráin by a group representing commissioned, non-commissioned & enlisted former Air Corps personnel.
Left to right Niall Donohue (Comdt retired), Michael Brennan (Sgt retired) & Gavin Tobin (former Airman) Photo by Sean Tobin – Further photos below
This list was presented for the attention of President Michael D. Higgins in his role as Supreme Commander of the Defence Forces as 61 of the untimely deaths occurred since he assumed office in 2011. We believe that some of these lives could have been saved or prolonged and thus held our first protest outside the Áras to highlight the inaction of the Supreme Commander on this life or death issue.
The Minister for Defence was made aware of decades of serious chemical malpractice at the Air Corps in 2015 via multiple protected disclosures. However, successive Ministers for Defence, up to and including the current minister Micheál Martin, as well as their associated governments have refused to order the urgent medical investigations & interventions proven to save lives in other jurisdictions.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, in his previous role as Minister for Defence, has acted to turn a medical problem, that can be mitigated, into a purely legal problem inappropriately defended using state funds.
Further protected disclosures highlighting related chemical malpractice have been made to or handled by the Chief of Staff, the Health & Safety Authority, the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Department of Defence.
Death certificate details including the following information has also been shared with the Supreme Commander.
Average age of deaths is 53 years.
41% of deaths are from cancer
12% of cancer deaths are specifically pancreatic cancer
9% of cancer deaths are specifically glioblastomas of the brain
30% of deaths are cardiac related
20% of cardiac deaths are specifically cardiomyopathy
14% of deaths are from suicide (at least 15 suicides)
We have been forced to present the list directly at Áras an Uachtaráin today after the failure of President Higgins to meet with survivors despite multiple requests going back as far as October 2018 with the most recent request in early April 2023 shortly after the publication of the Independent Review Group Defence Forces final report.
It should be noted that Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors engaged extensively with the IRG-DF and after the report was published President Higgins met with other groups, including those who did not engage with the IRG-DF, however we have been excluded without reason.
It is our intention to participate in further protests at Áras an Uachtaráin in association with other victim’s groups to highlight both historic & ongoing wrongdoings by the Defence Forces & the Department of Defence until appropriate moral, professional & statutory intervention by our Supreme Commander.
Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors – Photo by Sean TobinAir Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors – Photo by Sean TobinAir Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors – Photo by Sean Tobin
Watch Micheál Martin TD the current Tánaiste & Minister for Defence call for then Taoiseach Enda Kenny to launch a public inquiry into the Irish Air Corps toxic chemical exposure scandal way back in February 2017 when he was opposition leader.
Micheál Martin subsequently met with Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors in June 2017 and promised his ongoing support to help investigate and remedy the problem. Towards the end of that meeting one survivor asked if Martin would continue to support Air Corps survivors when he got into power and Martin replied “I will because it is the right thing to do”.
Since being elected to government he as done a complete about turn in that he has left injured Air Corps personnel to rot without any targeted medical interventions whatsoever by the Irish State.
Similar called for interventions in Australia for Royal Australian Air Force personnel has saved lives and reduced unnecessary suffering. But in Ireland Micheál Martin continues the state mantra of DELAY DENY DIE.
Transcript
Deputy Micheál Martin – Fianna Fail
I want to raise a very serious issue with the Taoiseach which, on reflection, could represent a serious scandal. It involves an unacceptable response by the State regarding exposure to dangerous chemicals at the aircraft maintenance shops in Baldonnel by members of the Air Corps over many years.
Three whistleblowers warned the Taoiseach and the then Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, in November 2015 about the conditions at the Air Corps maintenance shops in Baldonnel and the degree to which staff were exposed to very dangerous solvents and chemicals. The links of the particular chemicals involved to cancer-causing diseases, genetic mutations, neurological conditions and chronic diseases have been well-established. A precedent has been set by Australia where, in the early 2000s, the issue was identified and acted on by the Australian Government.
Complaints were made to the Department of Defence, the Air Corps and the Army in 2012 regarding this matter. In November 2015, the then Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, was informed that workers were not receiving occupational health monitoring, as is required by law under the Health and Safety Act 2005. In what was an extraordinary situation, they were not provided with protective equipment and clothing as they worked with very dangerous chemicals. PDFORRA wrote to the Air Corps in 2015, warning that any health inspection of Baldonnel would produce damning findings. It took until 2016 for the Health and Safety Authority, HSA, to threaten the Air Corps with prosecution unless it implemented a number of recommendations, including the provision of appropriate equipment for handling chemicals and the surveillance of staff health to monitor any adverse effects they experienced as a result of their duties. Is it not extraordinary that in 2016 the HSA wrote to the Air Corps to demand that very basic provisions of our law be implemented?
The whistleblowers received no formal acknowledgement from the Minister, Deputy Coveney, during that 12-month period. The response of the State has been standard and deeply depressing. It has resorted to the courts. There are currently six cases before the courts, and the Government is fighting them very strongly and acknowledging no negligence. In 2000, the Australian Government appointed a board of inquiry. Arising out of that, it commissioned a study of the health outcomes of aircraft maintenance personnel working in the F111 bomber programme , which came up with some fairly damning findings.
Why was the State so slow to respond to the whistleblowers and to investigate the health conditions at Baldonnel? Why were the whistleblowers not acknowledged by the Minister? Will the Government commission an independent health outcome study of aircraft maintenance personnel, similar to that carried out by the Australian Government, of personal working in aircraft maintenance shops in Baldonnel? Will it commission a similar independent board of inquiry of the entire affair and scandal?
Enda Kenny – The Taoiseach – Fine Gael
A number of protected disclosures have been made regarding the Air Corps. An independent third party was appointed to review the allegations and those making the disclosures were informed of this. Since then, there has been a line of communication with the individuals involved. When the disclosures were received, legal advice was sought and an independent reviewer was appointed. Subsequently, the person appointed could not act and an alternative independent third party was appointed. In November, interim recommendations and observations were submitted to the Minister, which were passed to the military authorities for immediate action and response.
As Deputy Martin knows, I have delegated, by statutory instrument, responsibility for defence to the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe. On 7 January 2017, a response was received from the military authorities outlining the actions that are underway, which was forwarded to the independent reviewer who was appointed for his consideration. That reviewer will now consider this material, undertake the further steps he deems appropriate in order to finalise the review in the context of the situation being as serious as Deputy Martin has pointed out. Once a final review is to hand, let me assure Deputy Martin that the Minister of State will see to it that all recommendations to ensure the safety of the members of the Defence Forces are acted upon properly.
As the independent process is ongoing and these issues are the subject of litigation, I probably should not say any more. From my experience of dealing with the Defence Forces across the entire range of their operations, they have always operated to the very highest standards. The issues raised by Deputy Martin are very different and need to be dealt with. I hope that the response received from the military authorities, which is now in the hands of the independently appointed person, will be examined properly and the recommendations made by the independent reviewer implemented, as they should be.
Everybody wants those who give so much of their lives to the Defence Forces to have proper equipment, the very best facilities and be safeguarded, in particular in matters relating to health and safety, and that these are of the very highest standards. What the Deputy has referred to is different.
The HSA has carried out three inspections of the Air Corps in Baldonnel, focusing in particular on the control of occupational hygiene hazards in the workplace, including health surveillance issues. The HSA issued its report of inspection to the Air Corps on 21 October 2016. It listed a number of matters requiring attention, including risk assessment, health surveillance, monitoring of employees actual exposure to particular hazardous substances and the provision and use of personal protective equipment.
Deputy Micheál Martin
I am very dissatisfied with that response. The Taoiseach has not explained what happened between 2015, when the protected disclosure was made, and why the Minister, Deputy Coveney, did not acknowledge and respond to the whistleblowers. There is a sense that this has been buried.
The HSA report is dated October 2016. It states that staff needed to be given equipment to protect themselves from chemical exposure and that adequate and appropriately specified personal protective equipment, in particular protective gloves, eye protection and respirators for protection against chemical exposure, must be readily available to employees as required by relevant risk assessment findings. The implication is that this was not the case of up to that point, which is quite extraordinary. I agree with the Taoiseach about the degree to which we hold our Defence Forces in high esteem. The continual lack of enforcement and protection of health surveillance and so on is quite extraordinary.
I put it to the Taoiseach that the response of the Government is to bury this matter. Litigation is ongoing.
Will the Taoiseach ensure that the HSA report is published? Will he publish all internal reports in the Department pertaining to the matter? In addition, will the Taoiseach ensure that there was full public disclosure? We are not talking about just now, but what went on for the past 20 to 25 years.
An Ceann Comhairle – Seán Ó Fearghaíl
The Deputy’s time is up.
Deputy Micheál Martin
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—–
An Ceann Comhairle – Seán Ó Fearghaíl
The Deputy’s time is up.
Deputy Micheál Martin
—–and that it has no time for the manner in which they have gone about this. I have spoken to them and that is how they feel right now.
Enda Kenny – The Taoiseach
Litigation is ongoing, so I will not comment on it. However, the issues that have been raised need to be and will be dealt with. On the first person to be appointed, it is quite difficult to get somebody with the range of competences to deal with all the implications of hazardous substances and that sort of area. The second person that was appointed has now received the material.
The HSA issued its inspection report to the Air Corps on 21 October last year, in which it listed a number of matters. I am advised that the military authorities responded in writing to the HSA report on 23 December last year and indicated that the Air Corps is fully committed to implementing the improved safety measures that protect workers from potential exposures to chemicals and that it will ensure that risks are as low as is reasonably practicable. The Air Corps has implemented an improvement plan which has been conducted over eight phases. The first phase commenced in September 2016, with phase completion dates to December 2017. I am advised that seven of the eight phases are due to be implemented by May 2017.
A number of disclosures were made to the Minister for Defence under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. They were received in December 2015 and December 2016. I will update the House—–
Deputy Micheál Martin
What happened to them?
Enda Kenny – The Taoiseach
A person was appointed earlier on who was not able to take up the duty.
Deputy Micheál Martin
There was no response to the whistleblowers.
Enda Kenny – The Taoiseach
A number of other issues are the subject of litigation at the moment. However, I will update the House because we will sort this out.
Defence Minister Micheál Martin has been accused of turning his back on survivors of toxic chemical exposure while serving in the Air Corps.
They say they have asked for direct engagement with him before agreement on the format of a statutory inquiry related to Defence Forces abuse allegations is reached.
Mr Martin has been holding meetings with representatives of serving and former Defence Forces personnel.
Those not invited to such meetings are instead emailed what the Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors (ACCAS) describe as round-robin and impersonal “Dear Stakeholder” updates by civil servants.
One of the latest face-to-face meetings with Mr Martin was last Thursday and it was with the Women of Honour group.
They featured in RTE’s Katie Hannon’s expose in 2021, which led to the launch of the Independent Review Group investigation into allegations of sexual abuses in the Defence Forces.
The review group’s report in March included allegations of both male and female soldiers being raped, sexually assaulted, and bullied.
However, while the Women of Honour did not give evidence to the review group, ACCAS did.
The extent of abuse they allege they suffered was so extensive the report recommended their allegations should feature in a statutory investigation.
A photo of the Irish Air Corps NDT Shop taken in 2007
Like members of Women of Honour, a number of ACCAS members are also suing over abuse they allege they endured.
The ACCAS say the Defence Minister’s failure to engage with them contrasts with a meeting he had with them in June 2017 when he vowed to support their cause “because it is the right thing to do”
34 men and 1 woman have died prematurely since Martin stood up in the Dáil and called for a public inquiry into the Air Corps toxic chemical exposure scandal on the 1st of February 2017.
Some of these serving & former personnel could have been saved by awareness campaigns and risk specific medical interventions, since he gained power Martin has chose to let suffere & die unnecessarily.
Martin has failed to respond to requests for meetings with survivors since he came to power despite precedent where previous Minister’s for Defence such as Simon Coveney & Paul Kehoe met with the same personnel.
Absolutely nothing has been done to provide targeted healthcare for exposed personnel since this date despite damning findings by the HSA which the Department of Defence and the defence forces continue to try to downplay.
Untimely* deaths of serving & former Irish Air Corps personnel
104 verified deaths have occurred in total since 1980
91 of these deaths have occurred since 2000
66 of these deaths have occurred since 2010
Either the rate of death is accelerating or we are missing many deaths from previous decades or possibly both.
3 most significant causes of death
41% of deaths are from cancer
5% of deaths are specifically pancreatic cancer
30% of deaths are from cardiac issues
6% of deaths are specifically cardiomyopathy related
14% 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.
From 1984-2006, employees of the Dutch Ministry of Defence were exposed to chromium-6 during maintenance work. This occurred at five so-called POMS sites (POMS: Prepositioned Organizational Materiel Storage), where principally American NATO equipment was stored and maintained by Defence personnel.
The Ministry of Defence had the responsibility to inform both employees and occupational physicians about the health risks of exposure to chromium-6-based paint and to ensure the use of the appropriate protective equipment. This did not happen adequately.
Exposure
Netherlands Armed ForcesThe extent to which Defence personnel were exposed to chromium-6 at the five POMS sites differed according to their positions. Employees in the technical maintenance positions had the highest exposure to chromium-6. The chromium-6 to which Ministry of Defence personnel were exposed in the period 1984-2006 can no longer be detected in their bodies. The fact is that chromium-6 is readily converted to chromium-3 in the body and is subsequently excreted.
Health effects of chromium-6
Defence personnel working in technical maintenance positions were exposed to chromium-6, which may have caused the following diseases: lung cancer, nasal and nasal cavity cancer, gastric cancer, chromium-6-related allergic contact dermatitis, allergic asthma and allergic rhinitis, chronic lung diseases and perforation of the nasal septum due to chromium ulcers. Because most of these diseases can also be induced by other causes, in many cases it cannot be determined with certainty that these diseases are the result of exposure to chromium-6 at the POMS sites. For other health problems, such as dental problems, no or insufficient scientific evidence has been found for a possible relationship with exposure to chromium-6.
Responsibilities, working conditions and duty of care
In its capacity as employer, the Ministry of Defence had the responsibility of notifying both employees and occupational physicians of the risks of exposure to chromium-6 containing paint. Most POMS employees indicated that they were not aware of the health hazards related to chromium-6. Furthermore, hardly any of the occupational physicians at the Ministry of Defence that participated in this study knew that there was a possibility that employees were exposed to chromium-6 in the period that the POMS sites were operational. The Ministry of Defence’s prevention and care policy did not comply with the applicable rules, particularly in the early years.
RIVM has conducted research into chromium-6 on behalf of the Minister of Defence. We have published a serie of ten reports on chromium-6 at the POMS sites of the Dutch Ministry of Defence . A combined English summary of the ten reports is available in the report ‘Chromium-6 at the Ministry of Defence’s POMS sites: health effects and responsibilities’.
Read full article journal at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment of the Netherlands
Chromium 6 aka hexavalent chromium was extensively used in Baldonnel for example in paint strippers like Ardrox 666, paint primers like Metaflex FCR as well as corrosion inhibitors like Mastinox 6856k
Specific hexavalent chromium ingredients used in the Irish Air Corps included
Barium chromate
Calcium dichromate
Magnesium chromate
Potassium chromate
Sodium chromate
Strontium chromate
Zinc chromate.
Zinc chromate would have been in the air in the Spray Paint Shop & Engineering Wing hangar any time primer was being sprayed and in many instances personnel carrying out the spraying would have inadequate or no PPE and personnel in close proximity in the hangar carrying out other tasks would have had zero PPE and zero awareness of exposure.
Barium chromate & strontium chromate are used in all hangars and some workshops as a component of Mastinox 6856k. This was used with bare hands and likely ingested by some personnel due to inadequate wash facilities. There have been instances where personnel have had parts of their stomach removed from such exposure and have lost all their teeth.
Sodium chromate is a component of Ardrox 666 which can be seen here dribbling out of the extractor fan in ERF.
Some Safety Data Sheets showing hexavalent chromium ingredients.
Deputy Micheál Martin – Fianna Fail
Enda Kenny – The Taoiseach – Fine Gael
An Ceann Comhairle – Seán Ó Fearghaíl
