{"id":427601,"date":"2026-05-01T21:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T21:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/427601\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T21:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T21:08:08","slug":"top-aer-lingus-executive-denies-pilots-dismissal-was-to-silence-him-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/427601\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Aer Lingus executive denies pilot\u2019s dismissal was \u2018to silence him\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Irish air safety authorities took \u201cno interest\u201d in an Aer Lingus<\/a> pilot\u2019s concerns about alleged cabin air contamination from fumes on its passenger jets, his lawyers have said.<\/p>\n

However, within a fortnight of the pilot going to the European Air Safety Authority (EASA) with his concerns, the airline grounded half a dozen planes in anticipation of an airworthiness directive, the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> was told yesterday.<\/p>\n

A senior executive at the airline, chief operating officer Aidan Dunne, denied there was \u201cany link\u201d between Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s disclosure to the EASA and the grounding of the planes as he gave evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission on Thursday, the case\u2019s 13th day at hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHundreds of aircraft\u201d across the International Airlines Group (IAG) were potentially affected by the airworthiness directive, which concerned potential damage to seals and gaskets in the engines of some older Airbus A320s, the pilot\u2019s barrister said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan has told the WRC he was poisoned by toxic fumes while in command of an Airbus A320 jet on an empty ferry flight into Dublin Airport in June 2023, and suffered brain damage as a result, ending his flying career.<\/p>\n

The tribunal has heard that one engine from the jet was removed and sent to Iberia Maintenance in Madrid for inspection. O\u2019Riordan later posted a report on the repair online, the tribunal was told \u2013 a report Aer Lingus regarded as confidential.<\/p>\n

During cross-examination last October, Conor Nolan, director of safety and security at the airline, said it had been discovered by Aer Lingus\u2019s maintenance partner that the incorrect use of an induction heating machine at a facility had caused \u201csparks\u201d or \u201carcing\u201d found to have degraded engine components during maintenance.<\/p>\n

However, he said it was clear from the Iberia report on the no 1 engine on O\u2019Riordan\u2019s flight that the root cause of the leaking seal was \u201cnormal wear and use\u201d and no \u201csystemic issue\u201d.<\/p>\n

The airline\u2019s barrister, Tom Mallon BL, has argued that any question of the cause of the alleged fume event in June 2023 is a matter for the High Court in a personal injury case now being pursued by O\u2019Riordan.<\/p>\n

On 9 March 2024, an emergency airworthiness directive was issued by the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) which would have had the effect of grounding a number of Aer Lingus Airbus A320 airliners if the airline had not already taken them out of service the night before, the tribunal heard.<\/p>\n

Thirteen days earlier, O\u2019Riordan had made a disclosure to EASA, Byrnes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy client alerted the European authorities because the Irish authorities had no interest, and when he went to European level, they did something about it \u2013 they issued an airworthiness directive,\u201d O\u2019Riordan\u2019s barrister, David Byrnes BL, said,<\/p>\n

The barrister put it to Dunne that the airworthiness directive was on \u201cthe precise issue\u201d identified in the Iberia repair report disclosed by O\u2019Riordan. \u201cYou know that, don\u2019t you?\u201d Byrnes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I don\u2019t know that,\u201d Dunne said. \u201cWe became aware and took action before the EASA directive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe there\u2019s any link. I believe the EASA airworthiness directive related to the heat treatment of a shaft in the engines where there may have been arcing during the process, and hence those engines were recalled to be checked,\u201d Dunne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s exactly what the report from Iberia about the engine that was defective on my client\u2019s flight. [There was] arcing which damaged the seals, allowing the contaminated air to get into the bleed system,\u201d Byrnes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the seals,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shaft,\u201d Dunne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe seals are the same issue, you know that,\u201d counsel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that,\u201d the executive replied.<\/p>\n

Dunne accepted, when it was put to him, that Aer Lingus \u201canticipated\u201d what was about to happen because the issue which prompted it arose in another company in the IAG group.<\/p>\n

Counsel put it to the executive there was a financial cost to his client\u2019s disclosures as Aer Lingus had to cancel flights and send jets for \u201cserious work\u201d in Spain.<\/p>\n

Dunne said Iberia covered the costs, but agreed that Iberia had the same parent company as Aer Lingus, IAG.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dismissal was to silence him,\u201d Byrnes said to Dunne on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not agree,\u201d Dunne replied. He said O\u2019Riordan was dismissed for his social media posts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you wanted to stop him putting up more disclosures of the issues. Did you want him to continue?\u201d Byrnes asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve made clear we didn\u2019t want him to,\u201d Dunne said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan was dismissed with notice in September 2024 as an Aer Lingus captain after facing a series of disciplinary charges and formal warnings about his activity on social media \u2013 culminating with findings of misconduct.<\/p>\n

The airline maintains he was fairly sacked, while O\u2019Riordan\u2019s legal team argues the processes were unfair and predetermined.<\/p>\n

Having first complained internally the previous year, O\u2019Riordan sought for Aer Lingus to engage with staff on fume events and make payments to him estimated at \u20ac3 million by one company witness.<\/p>\n

He said he would go on hunger strike if the airline did not comply, and garda\u00ed were eventually called to get him out of Aer Lingus\u2019s corporate headquarters, the tribunal was told. He began posting on social media about the issue the following week.<\/p>\n

Byrnes is instructed by solicitor Setanta Landers in the case. Mallon is instructed by Katie Rooney of Arthur Cox.<\/p>\n

The hearings have been adjourned and Byrnes is to continue his cross-examination of Dunne when the case resumes in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish air safety authorities took \u201cno interest\u201d in an Aer Lingus pilot\u2019s concerns about alleged cabin air contamination…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[601,72,61,60,6465],"class_list":["post-427601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-aer-lingus","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}