State agrees €2m settlement in air corps chemical exposure case
Ex-air corps member Gary Coll from Lifford, Co Donegal. The State has agreed to pay €2m to a former air corps technician who was allegedly exposed to toxic chemicals which he says caused severe health difficulties. Picture: Joe Dunne
The first of 10 damages cases against the Defence Forces by former air corps personnel has ended with the State agreeing to pay out €2m.
Former aviation technician Gary Coll had alleged his health was damaged as a result of being exposed to dangerous chemicals.
His case against various State entities, including the office of the Minister of Defence, was launched in 2014 and had been due to last up to eight weeks.
But both sides came to an 11th-hour agreement in Dublin’s High Court after numerous failed attempts at reaching a settlement.
Up to 29 witnesses had been due to give evidence on Mr Coll's behalf.
The settlement is without an admission of liability.
Afterwards, the 51-year-old said he had never wanted to go down the legal route but had no choice because the air corps had refused to help him.
As well as not being able to walk unaided, he suffers from chronic fatigue and has issues with his heart and his memory.
He has claimed his health issues, which also include ulcers and an inability to maintain his core body temperature, stem from the years he spent in the air corps from 1991 to 1997.
While in the service, he was regarded as an elite athlete who played rugby, could run 10k in 30 minutes, and he had rowed for Ireland in Henley Royal Regatta.
But Mr Coll, whose health started to deteriorate before he left the air corps and has gotten steadily worse ever since, has always maintained he was exposed to the chemicals without appropriate PPE or training on how to handle them.
”Previous ministers have said they could not comment about cases like mine, because they were before the courts.
”But from my experience of dealing with the Defence Forces and the State Claims Agency up until now, I have found myself dealing with an organisation that will do anything but see these matters aired in a court.
”They have fought me tooth and nail every step of the way.”
Mr Coll, of Johnston, Lifford, Co Donegal, had sued the Minister for Defence, Ireland, and the Attorney General, and was represented in court by Senior Counsel Finbarr Fox on instruction by Denis Boland of Patrick V Boland & Son Solicitors.
All of the claims were denied by the State's legal representatives who contended a safe system of work was provided along with proper equipment and training.
The Dáil has previously heard research by another former air corps technician Gavin Tobin which has raised questions over what at the time was a total of 73 deaths of former air corps personnel with an average age of 50.
Personnel like Mr Tobin and Mr Coll, the Dáil has heard, were regularly exposed to chemicals while working at the Baldonnel Air Base at a time when they had little or no personal protective equipment.
The air corps remains accused of failing to protect its technicians from the effects of cancer-causing chemicals, with whistleblowers claiming that decades of neglect has had a devastating effect on their health.
Since Mr Tobin’s research was raised in the Dáil, the list of those who are believed to have died after what they experienced in the air corps has passed 100.
Whistleblowers like him and Mr Coll have also previously alleged that inspection records dating back to the 1990s were deliberately destroyed because they had raised concerns.
But both the Government and the Defence Forces have denied the claim, and say the reports in question were mislaid over time.
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