Irish Action on Flight EI-712.
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1999:
Press details for 1999 are logged by calendar date.
January 10
Aer Lingus in a statement to the Sunday Mirror, declining to make any additional comments, said they had given all the relevant information to the accident investigation following the crash. However, they added they would allow ‘limited access’ to some of their files in the coming week.
| January 11 Ahern urged to raise Tuskar Disaster with Blair The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is being asked to raise the 1968 Tuskar Air Disaster with the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, in an attempt to unearth fresh evidence on a possible cause of the crash. The request comes from the Waterford Labour TD, Mr Brian O'Shea, who says he believes the plane was downed by a missile fired by a mobile unit of the British Royal Artillery. A total of 61 people lost their lives when the Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount, en route to London from Cork, fell 17,000 feet into the sea on a clear Sunday morning. Over the past 30 years there has been speculation the disaster was caused by missile testing carried out by the British Ministry of Defence in the area at the time. The outgoing British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, is to meet the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, on the issue tomorrow. While the ambassador has indicated the meeting is purely out of humanitarian concern for the relatives of those who died and there is no chance of a new investigation, Ms O'Rourke has said she would call a new inquiry if new evidence came to light. Yesterday, Mr O'Shea said that evidence could be simply obtained. He is to ask the Taoiseach to suggest to Mr Blair that British defence personnel be allowed to breach the Official Secrets Act in relation to the events of March 24th, 1968, to enable them to give evidence. After seven years of investigation, Mr O'Shea says he now believes recordings of British army manoeuvres in the area, picked up by London radar on the day, provide the key to the disaster. "At the time the army recordings were dismissed because they were just the army, not the Royal Air Force. But in fact there were mobile army units working from Llanbedr, Manorbier, and Ty Croes taking part in missile testing regularly...I have learnt that these men were out on that day and that they fired at their target plane which was situated north of Cardigan Bay and saw it disappear from radar. They were surprised later when those observing the target telephoned to ask why the missile had not arrived...These men now want to tell their stories but are prevented from doing so by the British Official Secrets Act." Last November, an article in the Cardiff-based Western Mail reported contact with members of the Territorial Army who alleged it was an open secret among members that they had brought down the aircraft by accident. The author of that article, Phil Davies, told The Irish Times yesterday there was a unit of the Territorial Army at Aberporth on the weekend of the crash. Mr Davies said his information was that among themselves they had acknowledged their involvement. |
January 12
Irish & British Investigators to re-examine evidence of disaster.... British say their missiles in 1968 did not have the range to hit the aircraft... Revealed - British cabinet papers relating to the missile test site in Wales were extracted from official files and destroyed in 1982. Irish and British air accident investigators are to begin a joint review of evidence gathered since the 1968 crash. The decision to conduct a new official review 30 years after the biggest single loss of life in Irish aviation history was taken today following a meeting between the British Ambassador to Ireland, Dame Veronica Sutherland and the Irish Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke. However, there are no plans for the review group to hear submissions from relatives or other interested parties. Both the Minister and Ambassador said that no new evidence had emerged to determine the cause of the crash. 'It's still a mystery' Ms O'Rourke stated. The British Embassy were more vocal. 'There has never been substantial evidence showing that the crash could be ascribed to British military or other action. We were certain as it was possible to be that it had been nothing to do with the United Kingdom.' Irish TV news program - 'Prime Time' said that in the past two months ( November-December 1998 ) the British Ministry of Defence had analysed its missile capability at the time of the crash. A confidential report concluded that no land-based British anti-aircraft missile had the range to strike an aircraft off the Irish coast. It said the most powerful missile at the time had a range of only half the width of the Irish Sea. The Programme also said that British cabinet papers relating to the missile testing site in Wales ( Aberporth ) were extracted from the files and destroyed in 1982 'just as the media posed questions about missile involvement in the crash'. Relatives of the victims have given a qualified welcome to the announced review. Mr Michael Burke, who lost his mother and grandmother in the tragedy, urged Ms O'Rourke to ensure the review would be of all the relvant documents. 'I believe the plane was hit by a missile or another plane and I can't see the British Ministry of Defence ever releasing any document which will tell us that.' Mr Burke said. Mr Jerome McCormack, who lost a brother, said the minutes of a meeting of British and Irish officials held in Wales on the day of the disaster have never been revealed. 'If they have nothing to hide, then surely they should bring everything out into the open.' Source: Irish Times 13.1.99. January 15| Tuskar Review Irish Times 'Opinion' January 15 The decision of the Irish and British authorities to conduct a fresh review of the circumstances surrounding the 1968 Tuskar Rock air disaster is, in itself, a welcome development. In its own way, it is a tribute to the commendable work of the Relatives Committee whose campaign for a full inquiry has continued to maintain momentum, some thirty years after the disaster. The question now is whether this latest review, announced after a meeting between the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, and the British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, has the capacity to uncover the truth. A total of 61 people died when the Aer Lingus Vickers Viscount, St Phelim, en route to London from Cork, crashed near Tuskar Rock, Co Wexford. It was the biggest single loss of life in Irish aviation history. The precise cause of the crash, which caused the plane to fall 17,000 feet into the sea on a clear morning, is still unknown. An Irish government report in 1970 found no obvious reason for the disaster but, intriguingly, it raised questions about the possible involvement of an unmanned aircraft - a drone target or missile - which "might have been there". Mrs O'Rourke has acknowledged that the full circumstances of the crash remain a mystery. This week, RTE's Prime Time reported that the British Ministry of Defence has recently examined its missile capability at the time of the crash. It concluded that no land-based British anti-aircraft missile had the range to strike an aircraft off the Irish coast. But, significantly, it also reported that British cabinet papers relating to a missile test site in Wales were extracted from the files in 1982, just as the media renewed its pursuit of the cause of the 1968 crash. The British authorities have always denied culpability for the crash. In recent days, the British Embassy reaffirmed this position, insisting that there "has never been substantive evidence showing that the crash could be ascribed to British military or other action. We were certain as it was possible to be that it has nothing to do with the United Kingdom." As part of the new review, Irish and British accident investigators will look all the evidence gathered after the crash. There is no guarantee that this will establish any new facts - the omens are not propitious - but it does indicate that the campaign of the Relatives Committee is being taken seriously. For all that, the fact that some relevant British material has apparently been destroyed or lost is not reassuring. It is to be hoped that the review will do something more than assemble and review, once again, the same series of files. In the first instance, the Government might insist that all available documentation in the case is released. It might also insist - the Official Secrets Act notwithstanding - that British defence ministry workers and Army personnel should be allowed to tell all they know. |
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January 17
Yates
Demands Release of Tuskar Rock Flight Documents
The Republic's Opposition spokesman on Public Enterprise, Ivan Yates, plans to challenge the conspiracy theories surrounding the crash of Aer Lingus flight 712. Deputy Yates is alarmed by reports that the British made plane, then 10 years old and bought secondhand by Aer Lingus, suffered a series of corrosion-related problems and that it was one of about 50 - more than one in every 10 built by Vickers - to suffer a fatal accident.
This information was excised from the Accident Report conducted on behalf of the Irish Government and published in 1970. The censorship was a result of pressure from the London authorities who were apparently worried about the commercial implications.
Mr Yates told the Sunday Independent yesterday that he plans to table a series of questions to Mary O'Rourke, Minister for Public Enterprise...demanding the revelation of all information in the possesion of the Irish Government and Aer Lingus following their crash investigations. 'It seems inconsistent for the Minister and others to be calling on the British to co-operate and make data available, when it appears that the contents of an important report in her own hands - irrespective of what it may contain - have not been published in full' he said.
Mr Yates was critical of the statement by Arthur Walls, Aer Lingus Deputy Manager at the time of the crash, that he ( Walls ) saw no obligation to make any reports available. Mr Yates said: 'I don't accept the point made by Aer Lingus that it's report was like any other report to a commerical board. it is of critical emotional consideration for the relatives to try and get some answers. 'I think the publication of all the reports in full - both Irish and British - would help to clarify if there was any interference by the manufacturers, or other vested interests seeking to protect their own position.'
Mr Yates pointed out that Mrs O'Rourke, who with the British authorities, has decided to conduct an official review, has the power to release this documentation.
The 1970 Irish Government report on the loss of the aircraft had suggested that an unmanned aircraft - a drone target aircraft or a missile - might have been involved, pointing to the fact that the British military carried out such manoeuvers from the coast of Wales.
Sunday Independent - Dublin. 17.1.99
For data on the Viscount commercial airline crashes worldwide - click here
January 19th
| Official Tuskar crash
file was shredded Irish Independent 19 January 1999 A KEY British document on the 1968 Tuskar Rock plane crash was destroyed by the British Ministry of Transport four years ago, the Irish Independent has learned. The official file on the unexplained crash of Aer Lingus flight EI 712 in which 61 people lost their lives was compiled by the MOT's Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB), but shredded by department officials in 1994. Public Enterprise Minister Mary O'Rourke last week announced a joint British-Irish review of documents in both country's files on the March 1968 tragedy. The destruction of the file was revealed by Junior Transport Minister Glenda Jackson in an unreported reply to a parliamentary question from Welsh nationalist MP Dafyd Wigley. Ms Jackson said the file had been ``reviewed'' in 1994 but was ``not selected by the Public Record Office for permanent preservation in the National Archive and was destroyed at that time''. RTE's Prime Time programme last week revealed the existence of a previously secret British report on the Royal Navy's role in the search, rescue and salvage mission Operation Tuskar, but the AAIB file may have been the only contemporary document dealing directly with the cause of the crash. Prime Time reporter Mike Milotte said a British air accident expert travelled to Ireland shortly after the crash to assist with the official Irish inquiry and also reported back to the British authorities. Mr Milotte said he believes the investigator's report was the most significant of the papers destroyed in the 1994 MOT shredding operation. ``It seems odd that the Public Record Office would not have selected the Tuskar Rock file for preservation,'' he said. ``It can only fuel suspicion that the British have something to hide.'' |
O Rourke says Aer Lingus has no report on Tuskar
Irish Times 19 Jan 1999
The Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has said there is no Aer Lingus report into the 1968 Tuskar Rock air crash. She has also spoken of salvage being handed over to a British ship by the Naval Service. Speaking on RTÉ's Questions and Answers programme last night, Ms O'Rourke said she had asked an assistant secretary in her Department to contact Aer Lingus yesterday to ask about the unpublished internal report to the airline's board on the crash. This report was referred to by a former senior executive of the airline as recently as last week. However, the Minister said the report was "not there, not physically there". Her official had found that there was "no written report". All that existed were the oral presentations made by Aer Lingus to the people drafting the government report, which was published in 1970. "I can't believe it", Ms O'Rourke said. She noted that, "in modern terms of compiling reports and keeping and collating information", 1968 was not that long ago. Asked whether there was any record of an Aer Lingus report which had gone missing, the Minister said there was not. "There was no report ever given to what was then the Department of Transport on Tuskar Rock." When she had appealed for new information about the crash, she had received a "very interesting letter" from a retired lieutenant-commander in the Naval Service, Ms O'Rourke said. He had been serving at a more junior rank on the LE Macha at the time of the crash and the subsequent search for wreckage. He had telephoned his superior officer to find out what should be done with "a piece of salvage" taken on board the Macha. He was told to "give it to the British ship" helping in the salvage operation, which he did, and it was "sent away". This was the first time he had spoken about this episode, the Minister said. She also said that, following her recent meeting with the British ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, to discuss the Tuskar Rock crash, they had both agreed that the two officials in her Department in charge of investigating air accidents should meet their counterparts in the British Ministry of Defence to "review all the existing information they have on file". ... Not included in the Irish Times report were the following comments made by O'Rourke on the program: 'Aer Lingus tells my department who tell me that there was no written Aer Lingus report - I find that an absolutely amazing thing to have happened, that the airline which had lost a plane and 61 people...didn't make a report...the 1970 Report [ Official Investigation report ] in the light of that time, it was as thorough as the Department could make it...' Also, O'Rourke confirmed that British Naval ships were called in by the Irish authorities as 'We didn't have enough to do the job ourselves'. As to the 'piece of salvage', O'Rourke commented that the retired Lieutenant-Commander reported that there were 'marks on the piece of aircraft and the British ship took it away'. On the program panel was Jim Mitchell TD who commented that: 'Any reports that exist either here or in Britain should be published at this stage...should be made available and an exhaustive trawl should be made to see are there any official reports or semi-official reports, or reports in the hands of people who were formerly in Aer Lingus' Personal Comment: I understand from a number of sources that Ms O'Rourke allegedly performed very poorly on the program, appearing to be unsure of her information and overly cautious in her comments. Did anyone else see this program and can comment? Any thoughts on the lack of an Aer Lingus written report in 1968? Considering that this was the airline's first ( and only to date ) passenger crash, is this not surprising? I certainly think so! Email comments to flight712@hotmail.com1998
Legal Action by the Tuskar Air Crash Relative's Support Group.
Irish Times November 17th
The Tuskar Air Crash Relatives' Support Group is to be involved in a legal action being prepared against the State and Aer Lingus to force the full disclosure of documents concerning the crash 30 years ago, in which 61 people lost their lives.
Ms Hilary Noonan and Ms Celine O'Donoghue from Cork, who lost relatives in the crash, are active in the campaign. Ms Noonan lost her father and Ms O'Donoghue an aunt and two first cousins, when the Viscount aircraft, Aer Lingus flight EI 712 en route from Cork to London, disappeared without trace off the Co Wexford coast near the Tuskar Rock in March 1968.
For over three decades, the memory of this appalling loss of life has remained. The relatives feel they have been stonewalled about what actually happened. Now the Tuskar Relatives' Air Crash Support Group has produced a strategy document. It also has a newsletter, which is sent to relatives of the victims, and a web site, http://www.dingleweb.com/tuskar
"The only reason for this group's existence is to get answers to why this disaster occurred," says the document.
Since the memorial services for the victims earlier this year, there have been meetings with the British Ambassador, Dame Veronica Sutherland, as well as Irish public representatives. The British line remains the same - aircraft malfunction - despite persistent rumours that testing of military drones at Aberporth, in Wales, went terribly wrong on the day of the crash, destroying the St Phelim. The official Irish investigation into the crash produced an inconclusive report.
The group has engaged a legal team with the help of Cork solicitor Ms Una Doyle. She has assembled junior and senior counsel who are willing to fight the case on a "no foal no fee basis". The legal team wants to take statements from anyone with anything to say about the tragedy. The relatives' group plans to index and reference all documents, comments and stories going back over 30 years so as to tie them back to original sources. The intention is to ensure that information will remain confidential until such time as the group and its legal team want it made public.
A man living in southern Spain made contact recently to say that while working in France some years ago he met a computer expert who had been attached to the British military in Wales. His story, as told to the person who contacted this column, was that on the day of the crash the computer programme used to fly the drones - some people call them high-powered rockets - went awry as did the drones.
He telephoned to say he thought he knew where his friend was and would make contact and come back to The Irish Times. I am still waiting to hear from him.
Group seeks re-opening of crash inquiry
Cork Examiner April 22 1998
JUST weeks after the 30th anniversary of the still
unexplained crash of the Aer Lingus Viscount St Phelim, relatives of the victims have
formed their own pressure group.
The Tuskar Air Crash Relatives Group was established at a meeting this week and is working
towards the eventual re-opening of the inquiry into the crash.
Representatives of 40 of the 61 crash victims attended the inaugural meeting of the group
and they are now working to get full representation.
"Many of those who were not at the meeting are relatives of Belgian or Swiss people
killed in the crash and we are now working, with the help of the Swiss and Belgian
embassies, to track these people down," group spokesperson Hillary Noonan said last
night.
She said that the group was also seeking the support of Cork TDs and had already received
backing from three of them.
"We are trying to create awareness of what we are doing and getting the support of
local representatives in just part of that," Ms Noonan said.
She said all the victims' relatives had been extremely buoyed by the reaction of the media
and the general public throughout the 30th anniversary commemorations and were much more
confident now that they will at last get answers to some of the questions raised by the
crash.
"We all feel we deserve answers and there is now a groundswell of opinion backing us.
We are now working hard to get those answers," she said.
The Book of Remembrance for the victims, which was originally opened in City Hall in Cork,
has since been signed by thousands of people. It moved from Cork to Wexford, where it was
open for two weeks and it has subsequently gone to the Mansion House in Dublin where it
will be open for people to sign for the next week.
"There has been a new momentum created by the anniversary of the crash and this group
will now be working hard to lobby to get the answers we have waited so long for," Ms
Noonan said.
| Tuskar
disaster relatives to press for public inquiry Irish Times March 30, 1998 Relatives of the 61 people who lost their lives in the Tuskar Rock air disaster 30 years ago are to form a group to lobby for a full public inquiry. A Mass for the victims and their families was celebrated by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley, in St Mary's and St Anne's Cathedral at the weekend. Family members, who came from all over Ireland and farther afield, spoke of their continuing sense of loss and the fact that three decades after the Aer Lingus Viscount went down, many questions remain unanswered. After the Mass Aer Lingus hosted a reception for the bereaved families, their first formal gathering in 30 years. At the suggestion of one relative, Ms Celine O'Donoghue, of Cork, it was agreed that a committee be formed to press the Government for a full inquiry. The former TD and minister, Mr Pearse Wyse, will chair the committee, which is expected to be set up within two weeks. Bishop Buckley told the large congregation that the Mass was in memory of the 61 victims, but also to honour the families who were still asking how their relatives had died. "Mystery still surrounds the crash," he said. "Serious questions need to be asked and the families deserve straight answers. Do some people in England know the answers? The relatives are not saying that anyone deliberately caused the crash. The lack of information has prolonged the suffering of the families. "They [the victims] were of all ages and came from all walks of life. Most of them were Cork people, our neighbours and our friends. Death struck them swiftly, suddenly and implacably. We have come here this morning to pray for those whose passing from this life to the next was so unexpected and instant. Their deaths remind us how fragile our lives are." Another cruel factor in the disaster was that most of the bodies were never found. This meant the usual grieving process could not be gone through by the majority of relatives, Bishop Buckley said. He added: "You, the relatives, have suffered enough." Mr Wyse, who was the Fianna Fáil lord mayor of Cork when the St Phelim crashed in good weather on March 24th, 1968, called on the Taoiseach to give the relatives the answers they had been seeking down the years. He added: "I'm making a special appeal to my friend, Bertie Ahern, to order a thorough and comprehensive investigation into what happened on that day. The relatives have suffered appalling anxiety. It is only fair, even at this remove, that they should be granted some peace of mind." At the bringing of gifts during the Mass, Mr David O'Beirne, son of the Viscount pilot, Mr Barney O'Beirne, brought an Irish oak sapling to the altar as a sign of hope. Another relative, Mrs Mary Nunan McCarthy, brought a scroll of names. Naval Service personnel who were on duty that day laid an old uniform at the altar. The commemoration was the third such event in the past three days. More than 300 people were present at Rosslare Harbour last week to mark the anniversary. On that occasion, the Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, Mr Hugh Byrne, also called for an investigation. The suspicion still remained, he said, that the crash was not caused by normal circumstances. At another Mass in Ballyphehane, Cork, last Tuesday evening lights were lowered and 61 candles lighted at the altar to commemorate the victims of the crash.
Debates - March 26th 1998 Mr. Walsh: I ask the Minister for Public Enterprise to reopen the investigation into the crash of the Aer Lingus Viscount in the vicinity of the Tuskar Rock on 24 March 1968, particularly in the light of new evidence that has become available. On that Sunday morning the St. Phelim on flight EI 712 left Cork headed for London. The pilot was Barney O'Beirne, who spent his early years in New Ross. One of the passengers on the plane was a Mr. D.P. Walls who had managed Albatros Fertilisers, a main industry in New Ross. They were just two of the 61 passengers and crew who lost their lives.The crash was investigated at the time and the report of the investigation was inconclusive. The last message from the airplane, which had been flying at 17,000 feet, indicated that it was spinning and falling rapidly at 12,000 feet. Officially, the cause of the disaster is unknown and various questions have arisen over the intervening 30 years as to whether it was due to malfunction, another aircraft or an event which caused the airplane to take diversionary action. There is a suggestion that there may have been an inherent failure in the Viscount and that the tailplane may have become dislodged when it took rapid diversionary action. There is also a question as to whether the airplane was shot down by a missile? Suspicion as to this latter cause has fallen on the Aberporth missile firing station in Dyfed in Wales. The target range used unmanned drone target aircraft at which to target missiles. The British Ministry of Defence has always claimed that Aberporth was closed on the day in question. There is a body of opinion which says that after a lapse of 30 years there is no need to reopen the investigation. However, that displays a disregard for those who were bereaved and who have sought consistently to find out the cause of the crash. It also displays a disregard for air traffic safety because by not identifying the cause we may not take steps to prevent a repetition of the incident. Compelling new evidence has been brought to light through good investigative journalism. Compliments were paid earlier to the journalism which has brought the National Irish Bank saga to public attention and this case is another example of good investigative journalism. It deserves to be complimented and it contrasts with other more cynical efforts. Mr. John Gilbert, a former chief petty officer on the British Navy frigate Penelope has said recovered wreckage was brought to Britain. He has publicly affirmed that this took place. That was not previously admitted and was not, I understand, available to the original investigator. It was also highlighted that the British Navy patrolled the area of the crash for the first 48 hours. Not only did it control the area, but it also turned away other salvage and search vessels approaching the area. Any wreckage which was subsequently found was discovered in the area from which the vessels had been turned away initially. There was a report of wreckage being recovered near Bannow, which now appears may have come from a drone target aircraft, given the shape and colour of the pieces recovered. There are further reports, which would not have been available at the time, of Territorial Army activity at Aberporth on that day, including either an artillery or gunnery unit, and that they left very hurriedly. Two years ago it emerged that there had been technical problems at Aberporth which had not been highlighted before. The technical problems were of a nature which at least provides circumstantial evidence as to a possible cause, which was that missiles were failing to lock on to their targets. That would a recipe for hitting other targets which they did not intend to hit. Today, I was told by somebody who had a relative working at Baldonnel that he consistently stated during his lifetime that the wreckage which came to Baldonnel seemed to indicate the plane had been shot down and that was likely to be the main cause of the accident. The log books of two British Navy vessels in the area of the crash at the time and attached to Aberporth are missing and have never been produced. The same applies to log books from Aberporth itself. When we combine the new evidence with the failure to provide information, it raises a compelling case for a further investigation 30 years later to try once and for all to find the root cause so as to put the matter to rest. These compelling reasons to reopen the case should also include a search for the truth. If politics or Government is about anything, it is about the search for the truth. There have been allegations in the past, unfounded or otherwise, that some collusion may have taken place, certainly on the British side and maybe even in conjunction with the Irish Government, in the failure to identify a cause. Another compelling reason is the public interest. The truth and the public interest are at stake, not to mention the Government's duty to care for its citizens. I hope the matters which have come to light recently on the 30th anniversary of the crash will be considered by the Minister with a view to a preliminary investigation to establish whether a fuller inquiry is merited. Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children (Dr. Moffatt): I thank Senator Walsh for raising this matter. I am sure he is aware of the thorough investigation carried out by the then Department of Transport and Power into this tragic accident, the report of which was published in 1970. I will begin by quoting the final conclusion of the report: "There is not enough evidence available on which to reach a conclusion of reasonable probability as to the initial cause of this accident." I will now turn to the Senator's question. If by new evidence he is referring to recent television and newspaper articles regarding the possible involvement of another aircraft, missile or airborne object, then I advise him that essentially none of this is new. I specifically refer the Senator to the section of the report where such a possibility is discussed. The report states:
I should like to draw attention to this report and to the detailed appendices to it which have, since its publication, been available for inspection by interested parties. The appendices, numbering in excess of 150 pages, give details of: the search and recovery operation; transcripts of tape recordings of radio exchanges between the Viscount St. Phelim and the air traffic control services of Cork, Shannon and London; meteorological data; investigation of the recovered wreckage, including the airframe, engines and propellers; investigation of auto pilot; summary of witness statements, maps of witnesses locations and photographs. These records, which have been available since 1970 in what is now the Department of Public Enterprise, illustrate the great lengths to which the officials of the Department at the time went to establish the cause of this accident. It is important to make clear that the purpose of aircraft accident investigation, which like all international aviation activity is governed by the International Civil Aviation Convention, ICAO, specifically Annex 13 to the convention, is to try to establish the cause of the accident in order to prevent a similar accident or a reoccurrence. It is not the purpose of the investigation to establish blame or liability. A large passenger aircraft accident is an international evident by its very nature and, consequently, several states may have rights and obligations, that is, the state of manufacture and the state of registry. In the case of St. Phelim, Ireland as the state of operator and of registry was responsible under international convention for holding an investigation and publishing a report, which was done. In carrying out this obligation, help in the search phase of the operation was given by the UK in accordance with international convention. At the time, our Navy had three corvettes and one only was at sea off Donegal at the time of the accident. As soon as possible, she assumed the role of co-ordinator. The salvage operation was Ireland's responsibility under international convention. This operation was conducted with the assistance of ships of the Royal Navy, which were considered at the time to present the best, if not the only possibility of locating and recovering the wreckage. This regrettably took a long time. Unfortunately, the fuselage of the aircraft, which may have been of considerable help in establishing the cause of the accident, was not recovered intact. The wreckage lay in a depression on the seabed at a depth of 42 fathoms, with the surrounding area at a depth of 39 fathoms, which is over 250 feet. Recovery of the wreckage was a difficult and dangerous task. The Senator will recall the publicity surrounding the recent fatal accident of TWA 800 off the coast of Long Island. Despite the sophistication of present day technology and an estimated expenditure of $125 million, the investigation has not established the cause of the accident in which over 200 people lost their lives. The Department has consistently done all that was possible to establish the cause of the loss of the Viscount and, more importantly, the tragic loss of 61 lives 30 years ago. On behalf of the Minister for Public Enterprise, I offer my sympathy to the families of the victims of this tragedy and to the colleagues of the Aer Lingus crew. It is always unsatisfactory when an accident investigation fails to establish clearly the cause of the accident. I appreciate that it is particularly difficult for the families and friends of the victims of such an accident to come to terms with their loss. The Department has always examined any new information as it became available. It did so on several occasions since 1970, including the examination of target aircraft dredged up in 1974 and 1978. However, there was nothing found which could positively be linked to the loss of the St. Phelim. The Minister for Public Enterprise is willing to republish the report of the investigation and its appendices and to make copies of these documents available in the Oireachtas Library. However, in the absence of new evidence, she is not persuaded to reopen the investigation. Should new evidence become available, the Minister, like her predecessors, would be more than willing to have such evidence examined. The Seanad adjourned at 6 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 27 March 1998.
Aer Lingus plane 'was brought down'Irish Times March 25, 1998 Evidence supporting the theory that the Aer Lingus Viscount, the St Phelim, was brought down in the Irish Sea 30 years ago by an out-of-control British missile, was revealed in RTÉ's Prime Time last night. The ill-fated St Phelim flew out of Cork Airport 30 years ago this month and went down off Tuskar Rock with the loss of 61 lives. One of the most persistent theories about the crash has been that the British military was testing missiles and drones - otherwise known as target aircraft - and one of these went out of control, destroying the St Phelim. Last night's edition of Prime Time secured documents which may support the hypothesis that the aeroplane was in collision with a missile. Although the British government has maintained there was no testing at the Aberporth testing facility in mid-Wales on the weekend of the fatal flight, the Prime Time report showed anomalies in the facility's log-book on the weekend in question. In support of the collision theory, Prime Time obtained the log of the Irish Marine Sea Rescue Co-ordinating Centre in Cork which reported wreckage in the sea at the St Phelim's last known position in the air. Before the crash the plane had radioed into base to say it was at a position known as Bannow, 17 miles from Tuskar Rock. Prime Time reported that the Rosslare lifeboat was sent to this point but was re-directed to search an area off the Welsh coast instead. In an interview with Prime Time, an officer from HMS Penelope - a British ship which also took part in the original search operation - said the ship picked up wreckage and took it to the UK, a claim vigorously denied by the British Ministry of Defence. Relatives and friends of the victims of the tragedy will gather at the North Cathedral in Cork this Saturday for a remembrance Mass to be celebrated by the Bishop of Cork, Dr John Buckley. Analysis of Viscount voice tapes allowed Mr David O'Beirne (31), son of the pilot who flew the ill-fated Aer Lingus Viscount from Cork Airport to Heathrow 30 years ago this month, on which 61 people lost their lives, has finally received permission to have the voice contacts between the cockpit and London air traffic control privately analysed. Mr O'Beirne, whose father Barney was on duty on March 24th, 1968, when the Viscount disappeared from radar and crashed into the sea near Tuskar Rock, said the Department of Public Enterprise had allowed him to hear a voice recording from the aircraft and, despite previous reservations, to have it analysed and digitally re-recorded. While Mr O'Beirne said he had hoped to hear his father's voice, a father he never knew as he was only 26 months old when the tragedy occurred, the voice on the tape was that of the co-pilot, Mr Paul Heffernan (22), of Upper Beaumont Drive, Ballintemple, Cork. He said the voice on the tape was intermingled with other voices and difficult to decipher. Mr O'Beirne has not yet decided on his next course of action. He was unsure about who would be best suited to analyse the tape.Irish Times March 18th 1998
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Lingus crash to be commemorated Irish Times March 7, 1998 The first official reception for the families bereaved by the Tuskar Rock Aer Lingus disaster on March 24th, 1968, will take place on the 28th of this month and will be hosted by Aer Lingus. A company spokesman confirmed last night that a reception would be held after a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr John Buckley. The event will honour the 61 victims and their families. Ms Clare Healy, who lost her father Desmond Walls, an official at the Whitegate refinery, said relatives were thrilled that Aer Lingus had agreed to bring them together. While many of those who lost loved ones in the crash had come together before, this was the first time they would meet as guests of Aer Lingus. Ms Healy hoped as many people as possible would hear of the special commemorative Mass and the reception. It is understood, too, that Aer Lingus may fly Ms Bonnie Ganglehoff, a Texan who lost both parents on the flight, to Cork for the occasion. The Mass will take place at noon at the North Cathedral in Cork on March 28th.
Pilot's son seeks cause of Tuskar plane crash March 3, 1998 - Irish Times What really happened to the St. Phelim, the ill-fated Aer Lingus Viscount which flew out of Cork Airport 30 years ago this month and went down off Tuskar Rock in the Irish Sea with the loss of 61 lives?It's a question that still haunts the victims' relatives and friends, who will gather at the North Cathedral in Cork on March 28th to remember them at a Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Cork, Dr John Buckley. David O'Beirne was a year and 10 months old when his father Barney, the Viscount's pilot, was killed. In the intervening years he has not given up trying to find answers to questions that have tormented the bereaved families for three decades. Now he believes that advances in technology could provide the key to why what should have been a routine flight to London suddenly came to such a catastrophic end. Mr O'Beirne has "probed and prodded", asking questions of experienced pilots and air traffic controllers. He has pored over the files and the findings of the inconclusive report on the tragedy. But now he has been granted the right to listen to the recording of the voice contact between his father and London Air Traffic controllers who were in contact with the aircraft before it fell out of the sky on March 24th, 1968. He can listen - but he cannot make a copy of the voice interaction or have it analysed. The Department of Public Enterprise, where a copy of the tape is kept, says it has already been examined by experts in the UK and nothing new has been found. The Department says that even though the report was inconclusive, it was comprehensive. The Department also says that it's bound by a convention of the International Civil Aviation Authority of 1944 not to release aviation material that is regarded as classified. There are many theories about the crash. The most persistent is that British military were testing missiles and drones - otherwise known as target aircraft - at the time and that one went out of control, destroying the St Phelim. David O'Beirne believes expert scrutiny of the tape, using technology that has moved on by 30 years, might provide a vital piece of new evidence. The Celtic League, a group combining the main Celtic areas of the western British Isles and Brittany, claims that despite the British government's protestations, there was military testing activity on the weekend of the fatal flight. The league works to promote co-operation between the Celtic nations and has called on the Irish Government to demand the original records from the Aberporth testing facility in mid-Wales. It also maintains that vital log books belonging to British military vessels which were in the vicinity at the time have gone missing. In one way this is an inevitable personal quest by a family member who never even got to know his father and whose life was changed because of that. In another it is an attempt, finally, to lay something to rest that has cast a shadow over these families. The sadness of what happened is still vivid and though people have got on with their lives it hasn't gone away. Talking to those left behind, it's obvious that in many cases the wounds are still open because there are no answers. The pilot's wife, Bega O'Beirne, is now in her 60s. "I have nothing to say - all I want is that for the sake of everyone the book should be closed," she says. And how might that book might be closed? "Proof - if we had proof about what actually happened. But God is good and the proof will come out at some stage." David O'Beirne, who once told his mother that he did not know what it was like to be without a father because there was nothing with which to compare it, understands why the bereaved are so sensitive - why the tragedy is still so real for them. There were so few bodies recovered, he says, that the process of bereavement was never completed. "For many people this has not gone away. It is still here and present." Over the years Mr O'Beirne, who is an amateur pilot, has received calls from people saying they also had relatives on board the St Phelim. "They wouldn't give their names - they just wanted to talk." How had it affected his own life? "It's not that we didn't talk about it at home - my mother never held back about the subject - but she was and is a very strong person. Under difficult circumstances she tried to get on with life and go forward. "Of course there were sad times, like when my sister, Sally, got married. She was about 11 when the tragedy occurred. For that reason she had the tougher time of it because she remembered everything." Ms Hilary Nunan was nearly 10 when a neighbour broke the news to her family. With her mother, now Mrs Mary Nunan-McCarthy, and her three sisters, she had seen her father, Noel, off at Cork Airport. He was going to London on business for Shell Oil. "It was a most traumatic time. I always thought that he would be found - that he would have been able to swim somewhere and be rescued. I had visions of him appearing again at some stage. I suppose that as a child that's how you get through these things." She supports David O'Beirne's efforts to have the voice traffic between London and the aircraft analysed again. "It is obvious that this is not going to go away. There is still interest out there - each year, there is going to be an anniversary - even if this year's anniversary is a special one. "The sooner it is dealt with, the better. The whole tragedy was made even more traumatic by the fact that there was no grave to go to. Our father's body was never recovered. There was no place to visit, no place at which to pray and bring flowers." Ms Nunan's mother asks whether I have a particular interest in the tragedy. I do and remember well my two first cousins and an aunt by marriage visiting our home in Cork the day before the crash. And then, after it, my mother flying to Luton to look after two other first cousins whose world had caved in when they heard their mother and two sisters had died somewhere out in the Irish Sea . Many Cork people have similar memories.
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"...As a Cork Deputy, I cannot leave the subject of air transport without referring to the Aer Lingus Tuskar Rock disaster on 24 March 1968 when the St. Phelim mysteriously crashed into the Irish Sea with the loss of 57 passengers and four crew. People in Cork are no more satisfied with the answers given in the 1970 report than people in Derry are with the official reports of the events of 1972. I hope, with a new British Government in office, which appears to be opening files kept shut by the Cold War mentality, the Minister will ask her British counterpart to disclose all military aircraft and missile actions in south Wales and over the Irish Sea on the day of the crash. It is almost 30 years since that event and there are persistent suspicions of a cover-up on the cause of the crash. Only a full disclosure of documents on the event, which should have no military sensitivity at this stage, will answer the questions about this incident..."
Files may hold key to 1968 air tragedy
March 27 1996
CAMPAIGNERS trying to uncover the cause of Ireland's worst air disaster have called for a new inquiry. This follows the publication of declassified British military files which, they say, support claims that test missiles fired from a military base off the Welsh coast could have been responsible for the tragedy. Mystery still surrounds the Aer Lingus plane crash off Tuskar Rock, which killed 61 people. The plane, a Viscount, had one of the best safety records of any aircraft at the time.
The St Phelim was on a routine flight between Cork and London when it crashed into the sea off the Wexford coast on Sunday, March 24th, 1968.
Eye-witnesses reported seeing a second aircraft of the type used as targets by the RAF in the area. But the British authorities have consistently denied that the missile testing site at Aberporth was operational that day.
A newly-released report, however, shows that the RAF base was using and had problems during the late 1960s with missiles designed to carry out interceptions up to the height at which the airliner was flying.
The recently declassified report shows that missiles used at the time logged a 25 per cent failure rate, often locked on to the wrong targets and travelled out of the range danger area.
The families of the 61 passengers and crew members who died in the crash were never given a satisfactory explanation of what caused the accident.
The Celtic League, a group campaigning for the release of information about military activities in the area on the day, says there is now enough evidence to justify a full inquiry.