I thank Senator Walsh for raising this matter on the Adjournment. As the 40th anniversary of the crash approaches, on my own behalf and that of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Noel Dempsey, I want to offer sympathy to the families of the victims of this tragedy and to the colleagues of the Aer Lingus crew. Many of the bereaved families come from my area and I know them personally. It has been a sad 40 years for them.
The Aer Lingus Viscount St. Phelim, registration EI-AOM, operating as flight 712 from Cork to London, crashed into the Irish Sea near Tuskar Rock at approximately 12.15 p.m. on 24 March 1968. All 61 passengers and crew were fatally injured. A report of the investigation was conducted by the aeronautical section of the Department of Transport and Power and was published on 30 June 1970. The report concluded that there was not enough evidence available on which to reach a conclusion of reasonable probability as to the initial cause of the accident. In view of the circumstances pertaining at the time and certain unsubstantiated hypotheses raised in the report, such as a mid-air collision with another aircraft or missile, the cause of the accident remained controversial.
At around the time of the 30th anniversary of the accident, the UK ambassador to Ireland met with relatives of victims of the St. Phelim and offered to assist them in establishing the exact nature of the role of the UK Ministry of Defence in this accident. The then Minister for Public Enterprise, Deputy Mary O’Rourke, also met with the UK ambassador and it was jointly agreed that Irish and UK officials would review all files held concerning the accident to see if additional information could be found that would contribute to determining the cause of the accident.
The comprehensive review report published in June 2000, which was headed by the then chief inspector of air accidents of the air accident investigation unit, AAIU, found no evidence of UK involvement in the occurrence of the accident. Nor was there any evidence that the UK, as a state, conspired against the investigating body in an attempt to conceal any facts. Some inconsistencies and omissions in the maintenance schedule of the ex-KLM Viscount-type aircraft, by the operator Aer Lingus and by the Department's airworthiness surveillance office, were found. These errors were examined during the original investigation and that investigation concluded that the errors were not a factor in the accident. However, the original report made no mention of the errors it had found. The later 2000 review concluded that no link could be found between these errors and the accident. The cause of the accident was still not established and a number of relatives of the Tuskar Rock accident victims would not accept the AAIU's review of files, stating that it was a "cover-up".
Subsequently, in July 2000, the Minister then responsible, Deputy Mary O'Rourke, commissioned an independent international team of aeronautical experts with the objective "to shed further light on the cause(s) of the accident" by making a study of all available documentation, material and-or sources.
The study did not constitute a formal investigation or a re-opening of the original investigation. The objective was to shed further light, if possible, on the cause or causes of the accident. Other than a significant amount of paperwork, there was no longer any material evidence available. However, a number of witnesses were interviewed by the study team.
To ensure full independence of this exercise, the role of the AAIU of the Department of Public Enterprise, at the direction of the Minister, was solely to facilitate the study team in providing access to all file documentation and associated contacts. The AAIU had no other input into the study report or its conclusions. It is therefore inappropriate that the Minister or the AAIU should comment on this independent study. The study team took advantage of a much longer in-service experience of the Viscount fleet than existed in 1968, and performed a deep analysis of several accidents considered as relevant, since they presented similarities with the Tuskar Rock accident. This resulted in the identification of a field of possible causal factors.
The Department of Transport's AAIU has always examined any new information as it became available. It has done so on several occasions up to the present day.
On 28 February 2008, RTE's Today with Pat Kenny radio show raised a number of possible issues including the alleged presence of another aircraft and the recovery of an ejector seat. The 2002 study review rejected the presence of another aircraft or missile and no new supporting evidence has been found to support such theories.
The programme also referred to the discovery of an ejector seat some 14 years ago by a local trawlerman in Wexford. Since the AAIU was set up in 1994, it has rigorously recovered and examined all items of aircraft wreckage that was brought to its attention and has published reports where appropriate. While the radio programme stated that the ejector seat was sent to the AAIU, I can inform the House that, to date, no ejector seat has been presented to the AAIU since it was set up in 1994. However, the AAIU has sought details of this ejector seat recovery, as reported by RTE, and will endeavour to establish its authenticity or origin.
On behalf of the Minister of Transport and on my own behalf, I again take this opportunity to offer our deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of this tragedy and to the colleagues of the Aer Lingus crew.
