Government deaf to #IrishAirCorps Whistle-blowers

Minister says he is unaware of requests for direct contact, but texts suggest otherwise, writes Joe Leogue.

THE latest development in the Air Corps chemicals scandal raises serious questions about the Government’s attitudes to whistle-blowers, and highlights significant inconsistencies in its account of how it has managed the affair.

It is two weeks since the Irish Examiner revealed the details of a damning health-and-safety report on working conditions at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel, and text messages seen by this newspaper add weight to opposition charges that the Government has tried to “bury” the affair by not engaging with those whistle-blowers who had previously raised health warnings about the Air Corps staff’s exposure to chemicals.

Former defence minister Simon Coveney has told the Irish Examiner he received legal advice not to meet whistle-blowers who had warned him of the Air Corps’ alleged failure to properly protect its staff from exposure to dangerous chemicals.
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However, Mr Coveney has failed to address a number of questions put to him, the most substantial being how he can claim to have been “unaware” of whistle-blowers wanting to hear directly from him when text messages from Chief Whip Regina Doherty suggest otherwise.

Texts suggest Simon Coveney knew of #IrishAirCorps Whistle-blowers

Government chief whip Regina Doherty passed an air corps whistle-blower’s requests for contact with Housing Minister Simon Coveney onto her Cabinet colleague last year, contrary to Mr Coveney’s claims he was unaware of any such appeal.

Significant inconsistencies have emerged in the Government’s account of how it managed the warnings it received relating to concerns for Air Corps technicians’ health.

The Irish Examiner has learned that, in January 2016, Ms Doherty forwarded a text message onto one of the whistle-blowers that she said came from then-Defence Minister Coveney. The message claimed Mr Coveney would call this whistle-blower the next day.

Read more on the Irish Examiner Website