{"id":632537,"date":"2026-09-22T15:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632537\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T15:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:06:12","slug":"case-of-aer-lingus-pilot-sacked-over-alleged-toxic-fumes-campaign-becomes-longest-wrc-hearing-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/632537\/","title":{"rendered":"Case of Aer Lingus pilot sacked over alleged \u2018toxic fumes\u2019 campaign becomes longest WRC hearing \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The case of an Aer Lingus<\/a> pilot sacked over a social media campaign on alleged \u201ctoxic fumes\u201d on airliners has now become the longest-running employment rights case since public hearings began at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).<\/a><\/p>\n

The pilot, veteran Airbus A320 captain Tom O\u2019Riordan, is pursuing complaints of whistleblower penalisation, unfair dismissal and non-payment of wages against Aer Lingus Ltd at the WRC, following his dismissal in 2024. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan has told the tribunal the airline \u201cknowingly\u201d directed him to operate what he argues was an unsafe Airbus A320, EI-DEN, on an empty ferry flight from Heathrow to Dublin on June 5th, 2023, and that he suffered a brain injury<\/a> as a result. <\/p>\n

He was sacked after the company decided he had committed \u201cserious gross misconduct\u201d by taking to social media with what he called a \u201ccampaign of awareness\u201d about alleged \u201ctoxic fumes\u201d. <\/p>\n

Aer Lingus, through its lawyers, has strongly denied that O\u2019Riordan, or any of his colleagues, or the public, were ever put at risk. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan concluded his evidence on his sixth day in the witness chair on Monday, in what has now become the longest-running employment rights case at the WRC since 2021 in terms of hearing days.<\/p>\n

Under cross-examination on Monday, O\u2019Riordan told the WRC he was making \u201cprotected disclosures\u201d to \u201cthe general public and to Aer Lingus crew\u201d when he wrote about \u201coil suspected of damaging fertility and the unborn child\u201d. <\/p>\n

\"\"Soaring energy costs and why \u2018we can\u2019t protect everyone from the impact of war\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the public in general, rather than any specific member of the public,\u201d said Tom Mallon, appearing instructed by Arthur Cox LLP for the airline. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, that\u2019s my evidence,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Mallon questioned O\u2019Riordan about his decision to picket Aer Lingus\u2019s corporate headquarters at Dublin Airport on February 26th, 2024. O\u2019Riordan confirmed he had appeared in uniform and had a placard made. <\/p>\n

\u201cI engaged in a peaceful protest, yes,\u201d O\u2019Riordan said. <\/p>\n

Nobody, he said, had asked him while he was outside the offices to stop, and he ceased his protest around 10.30am, after about an hour and a half of picketing. <\/p>\n

When Mallon put it to O\u2019Riordan that he was the subject of \u201cthree successive disciplinary processes\u201d, O\u2019Riordan replied: \u201cThat appears to be correct. <\/p>\n

\u201cI communicated in advance to Aer Lingus that the outcome of all these procedures would be predetermined, and I was not attending,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He said that before the disciplinary process, the airline\u2019s chief pilot, John Kelly, had threatened action against him, while its human resources director, Sharon Morris, \u201cthreatened me and bullied me and tried to coerce me into stopping my campaign on social media\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cYour behaviour, it was made clear to you, was unacceptable,\u201d Mallon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAll my actions, interactions and correspondence in regard to toxic fumes are related to public and crew health and safety,\u201d O\u2019Riordan said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Let\u2019s see how long before he posts this\u2019: IAA boss accidentally includes Aer Lingus pilot in emailOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the company made it clear to you on numerous occasions that was unacceptable,\u201d Mallon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an unlawful direction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a matter for the adjudication officer,\u201d Mallon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would contest it,\u201d O\u2019Riordan said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan confirmed he attended meetings in relation to the first of the three disciplinary processes, but did not engage further until it came time to appeal his dismissal to the airline\u2019s chief operating officer, Adrian Dunne, who upheld the sanction. <\/p>\n

The second disciplinary process concluded that O\u2019Riordan\u2019s posts on the ToxicAer accounts were \u201coverwhelmingly negative\u201d and in breach of Aer Lingus social media policy, Mallon said. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan said the social media policy \u201chad only been created on 6th June [2024]\u201d and was \u201cinterjected\u201d during the disciplinary process. <\/p>\n

The complainant\u2019s counsel, David Byrnes, appearing instructed by Setanta Solicitors, said his client was \u201cnot aware\u201d of the outcome of the first disciplinary process because he had been cut off from his work emails when it was given. <\/p>\n

\u201cDid you receive notice of the outcome of the first disciplinary?\u201d adjudicator Aideen Collard asked the complainant.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I did not,\u201d O\u2019Riordan said. Asked when he saw it for the first time, he said: \u201cHere in the WRC, I believe.\u201d <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan was excused shortly after that. <\/p>\n

Collard adjourned after telling Aer Lingus\u2019s legal team it could have a week to decide whether to call more witness evidence concerning the company\u2019s sick pay scheme before she hears closing arguments in December. <\/p>\n

That will bring to an end what has become the longest case to run at the WRC since the tribunal was first required to convene hearings in public in 2021. <\/p>\n

Monday was noted to be the 20th day of evidence over a 25-day run of hearings, spread over nearly two years. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Riordan\u2019s complaints against Aer Lingus Ltd are under the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, and the Payment of Wages Act 1991. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The case of an Aer Lingus pilot sacked over a social media campaign on alleged \u201ctoxic fumes\u201d on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[601,72,61,60,6465],"class_list":["post-632537","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\/632537","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=632537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}