The State Claims Agency is to appeal a discovery order granted to a chronically ill man who is seeking a list of the chemicals he was exposed to while working as a technician in the Air Corps.

TDs and senators are to visit the Air Corps headquarters, amid fears for the health and safety of staff at Casement Aerodrome.

A whistleblower’s warning that documents revealing unacceptable levels of chemical exposure in the Air Corps were deliberately destroyed was sent to the Department of Defence over a year before it looked for the documents — and discovered they are missing.

The Government is under increasing pressure to set up a commission of investigation into alleged health and safety management failures at Casement Aerodrome.

A serving Air Corps whistleblower is facing discharge as a result of a “work-related industrial dispute”.

The Government is facing calls to establish a Commission of Investigation into whistleblower claims against the Air Corps, after the terms of an independent report into the allegations were branded ‘farcical’ by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin.

An independent review of allegations made by Defence Forces whistleblowers has found records “are not readily available” to prove the Air Corps was in compliance with health regulations on the use of toxic chemicals.

The Government says the Defence Forces have no intention of investigating how health and safety reports at the centre of an alleged ‘cover up’ within the Air Corps have gone missing.

Cross-party demands have been made for an independent investigation into how the Air Corps has managed staff exposure to harmful chemicals.

The Department of Defence said it cannot locate copies of technical reports from the 1990s which raise concerns about health and safety conditions at the Air Corps headquarters in Casement Aerodrome.

A whistleblower has criticised the Government’s handling of allegations of health and safety management in the Air Corps, claiming that staff exposure to toxic chemicals has caused the deaths and chronic illnesses suffered by members and their families.

The military has been accused of a “cover-up” in relation to how it dealt with reports of exposure to dangerous substances within the Air Corps.

Opposition parties are to raise whistleblowers’ concerns on the management of air corps staff exposure to hazardous chemicals in the Dáil today.

With the first few days of the new year being described as “perfect sales-shopping weather”, there seems to be no end in sight to the mild weather.

A review of the weather in 2011 has found no shortage of warmth, but not when it was most needed.

The Irish Air-Corps has completed a long-haul air ambulance mission to the United States.

Rainfall for the month of September was above average almost everywhere in the country, it was confirmed today.

THE evidence was all around us but Met Éireann yesterday confirmed it — the summer of 2011 was anything but a scorcher.

DESPITE record-breaking rainfall in parts of the west, overall temperatures were up in May, according to experts.

Parts of the country suffered three times more rain than usual last month sparking some of the worst floods in living memory, forecasters said today.

The two Air Corps crew members killed after their aircraft crashed in Co Galway last night have been named as 32-year-old Captain Derek Furniss and Cadet David Jevens, 22.