Irish Examiner view: Let’s take shield from corporate workers

Mick Ryan, an engineer with the United Nations’ World Food Programme, was killed in March 2019 when a Boeing 737 Max crashed.

UN worker Mick Ryan was one of 156 people killed in March 2019 when a Boeing 737 Max crashed. Months earlier, in October 2018, another 737 Max crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people. These 365 deaths were life-shattering for the victims’ loved ones but they cannot have been a surprise for Boeing as the manufacturer knew that the aircraft was dangerously defective. Yet, as today’s too-big-to-fail — or regulate — corporations often do, they carried on regardless. Passenger safety was regarded as subsidiary to profit targets.

This Thursday, the US Justice Department said Boeing had agreed to pay a €2bn fine for misleading regulators about the safety of its 737 Max. Mick Ryan’s widow, Naoise reacted strongly saying that Boeing should be charged with manslaughter rather than just fined.