Handling of safety claims - Note of caution on Air Corps files

CAUTION should be observed when comparing the characterisation of claims of a Defence Forces safety cover-up by Air Corps whistleblowers as “malicious” with the “disgusting” remark made by former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan in relation to Garda whistleblowers.

True, both comments involved serious allegations of wrongdoing made by whistleblowers and both concerned rejections of allegations.

But, while Callinan was defending the indefensible, the Air Corps may be correct in stating that safety reports from the 1990s were misplaced “with the passage of time”.