{"id":656571,"date":"2026-10-16T13:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/656571\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T13:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T13:28:09","slug":"third-word-error-in-aer-lingus-disciplinary-papers-wrc-is-told-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/656571\/","title":{"rendered":"Third word error in Aer Lingus disciplinary papers, WRC is told \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The case of an Aer Lingus<\/a> pilot who says he should not have been stripped of command responsibility for failing to immediately file an air safety report over what he considered a \u201cnon-event\u201d has heard of a third word error in internal company documents on the case.<\/p>\n

Hearings on complaints by Declan McCabe under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 and the Payment of Wages Act 1991 are continuing this week at the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC).<\/p>\n

The WRC has heard for the third time of what is said to be an error in wording in internal company documents concerning a disciplinary process brought against McCabe.<\/p>\n

The tribunal was told on Thursday that when the airline\u2019s chief pilot wrote that McCabe had been \u201cindicted\u201d by a safety investigation, he meant to write \u201cindicated\u201d.<\/p>\n

McCabe was disciplined for what the airline deemed breaches of his air safety reporting obligations while flying in command of an Airbus A321xlr, which failed to link up with a radio navigation beacon coming into Dublin Airport<\/a> before making a turn to re-establish contact.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Aer Lingus pilot \u2018uncomfortable\u2019 at crossing picket line to attend WRC hearingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The conclusion in a disciplinary investigation was that McCabe\u2019s aircraft, with 156 passengers and crew aboard, was \u201cflying in the wrong direction … until air traffic control intervened\u201d on the day, according to Captain Eamon Kierans, the manager who conducted the process.<\/p>\n

McCabe said what happened was \u201ca non-event from a flying point of view\u201d and that the relevant Aer Lingus manual left it up to his judgment to decide whether to report it. The company disagreed, and while his actions as a pilot were not impugned, the airline concluded he had failed in his safety reporting duties by not filing a report until he was directed to do so by the airline\u2019s director of safety and security Conor Nolan. <\/p>\n

The tribunal heard that Capt Nolan decided in a safety review that the flight crew\u2019s actions prior to the air safety report being submitted amounted to a \u201creckless violation\u201d \u2013 leading ultimately to disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

McCabe\u2019s case is that the airline had no right to pursue a disciplinary process against him and that it was penalisation for complaining about another senior managing pilot, Capt Colm Wynne, having a safety management role in the airline, on foot of a previous dispute dating back to 2011.<\/p>\n

Yvonne De Silva, who was director of in-flight services at Aer Lingus in 2024, upheld the disciplinary sanction against McCabe when she gave her decision on his internal appeal in March 2024.<\/p>\n

David Byrnes BL, for the complainant, said that during the appeal stage his client argued that the entire disciplinary process was prejudged. McCabe cited a letter from the airline\u2019s then-chief pilot, Capt John Kelly, stating before the disciplinary process began that McCabe was \u201calready indicted\u201d by Capt Nolan\u2019s safety probe.<\/p>\n

Giving evidence, De Silva said the only role Capt Kelly had in relation to her appeal process had been to ask about her availability, and that she had been assigned to the process by Aer Lingus HR.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what indictment means \u2013 charges brought before even a disciplinary investigation to say that a disciplinary hearing is warranted,\u201d Byrnes asked the witness. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d De Silva replied. She said she had agreed with McCabe that the word \u201cindictment\u201d was \u201cnot appropriate\u201d when he brought it up at appeal stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI read the email myself. My interpretation was that it was a typo,\u201d De Silva said. <\/p>\n

McCabe told her at the appeal that Capt Kelly \u201chadn\u2019t mentioned it\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to captain Kelly and mentioned what was his thinking. He said: \u2018Oh, that was a typo; when I wrote back to him I didn\u2019t notice the typo myself,\u2019\u201d De Silva said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote in my outcome letter that it was a typo, it was my view that it was a typo,\u201d she said. \u201cThe use of the word \u2018indicted\u2019 was a typo on the part of captain Kelly \u2013 it should have said \u2018indicated\u2019\u201d .<\/p>\n

Her finding was that \u201chaving read the full email, there was no other logical conclusion\u201d. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Capt Conor Barrett, the disciplinary investigator in McCabe\u2019s case, said he used the word \u201cbelieve\u201d when he meant to write \u201cbelie\u201d in relation to McCabe\u2019s interpretation of the manual\u2019s safety reporting section.<\/p>\n

Capt Barrett told the WRC the next day that when he used the word \u201cbelies\u201d elsewhere in the report, he meant something different. De Silva said she mentioned the typo in the course of a broader discussion with Capt Kelly \u2013 one of a number of conversations she had with senior pilots at the airline during the appeal process, she said.<\/p>\n

She told the WRC she wanted \u201cto get a little bit more information\u201d from them.<\/p>\n

Byrnes asked De Silva: \u201cDid you document these conversations?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believed it was the right thing to do,\u201d De Silva said. <\/p>\n

Byrnes said his client was entitled to \u201cknow the evidence and test the evidence from the start to the bitter end\u201d but had only found out about these conversations for the first time at the WRC on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Counsel said the information gleaned from such conversations \u201cclearly materially influenced\u201d the appeal process and asked De Silva to show him where the Aer Lingus policy provided for her to have such discussions without notice to the appellant.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re probably going to tell me it\u2019s not there,\u201d De Silva said.<\/p>\n

Counsel said De Silva \u201cshowed bias toward what people outside the process were telling you\u201d, which she denied.<\/p>\n

Byrnes asked her whether she told his client that one of the people she spoke with in this context was Capt Kierans, the disciplinary officer, and \u201cthe person you were reviewing in this appeal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d De Silva said.<\/p>\n

Byrnes asked whether the HR officer assisting De Silva with the appeal process had warned her that she \u201cought to be careful\u201d about contacting Kierans during the appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t remember,\u201d De Silva said. She accepted she did not give McCabe and his representative during the internal process, Capt Padraig Higgins, \u201ca chance to respond to those conversations I had\u201d.<\/p>\n

The case continues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The case of an Aer Lingus pilot who says he should not have been stripped of command responsibility…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[601,72,61,60,6465],"class_list":["post-656571","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\/656571","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=656571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}