Taoiseach urged to make State apology over Whiddy Island disaster

Micheál Martin needs to make an 'appropriate, lengthy, honest, and heartfelt' apology over 1979 disaster off coast of Bantry, says maritime lawyer

Michael Kingston throwing flowers in the sea in memory of his father Tim on the 40th anniversary of the Betelgeuse disaster at the Whiddy Island pier in Bantry, Co Cork. File picture: Dan Linehan

A group representing the loved ones of the Whiddy Island disaster victims has called for the Taoiseach to make a State apology this week in the Dáil regarding the failings highlighted by the incident.

Speaking in the wake of the broadcast of Fire In The Sky, an RTÉ Radio documentary on the history of the disaster, Michael Kingston said the Taoiseach needs to make an “appropriate, lengthy, honest and heartfelt” apology to the families, workers and rescue services, and residents of Whiddy Island who were “forced into terrible danger unnecessarily” on the night of January 7, 1979.