Mr. Alan Brereton:

All of us across the community suffered stress, anxiety and mental health troubles. Professional pilots are not immune to these serious issues. There are many triggers or causes of these issues which can range from family matters of separation, divorce, bereavement or a sick child or parent. Pilots, like all others in the community, suffer substance abuse. The issues of mental health and of well-being of pilots were abundantly clear on 24 March 2015 when Germanwings Flight 9525 travelling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf was deliberately crashed by the operating pilot north-west of Nice in southern France, killing all 144 souls and six crew members on board. In Ireland we have an average of one pilot suicide every 18 months. These are not pilots who are grounded or retired. These are pilots who are actively working in Irish airlines. In one particular period of seven years we had six active pilots take their own lives. These suicides we have seen among active pilots did not involve the use of aircraft. As we have seen from the Germanwings example this is not always the case. The issues get even more complex when you consider that pilots know that their performance as pilots is degraded by issues which are impacting on their mental health. This can cause a vicious spiral in the stress in the pilot's mind. In Ireland there are pilots who are going through the full spectrum of life's challenges such as bereavement, separation, divorce and substance abuse, to name but a few. Regrettably we do not have an aviation authority that understands the gravity of the issue, or a Department of Transport that appreciates the breadth of the problem. Our experience suggests that the Department of Transport and the Irish Aviation Authority have taken a minimalist view of pilot mental health and the impact on Irish aviation.

In the 1970s in the United States, pilots returning from Vietnam with mental health issues formed peer support groups in the US airlines to help them cope and deal with the stress of these traumatic events. In IALPA we copied their successful system in the 1970s by establishing a peer support group and programme for pilots suffering mental health issues. IALPA was to the fore in Europe in establishing a peer support group. This group has helped dozens of pilots on an annual basis to deal with serious mental health issues and in many cases the risks these mental health issues have presented have been mitigated by getting the pilots the right treatment for their particular issue before they get to the flight deck or the cockpit. The key to the success of a peer support group is for the pilot to know that he or she will be free from judgment or sanction from his or her employer should he or she put his or her hand up with a problem. In Ireland today we have a situation where the Irish Aviation Authority allows and supports Irish airlines where management representatives have been installed as peers in the peer support group. Not surprisingly, in these particular cases there is very little interaction between the pilots concerned and this management-operated peer support programme. Do we think this is a safe environment for pilots in Irish aviation? We have seen evidence that some airline management teams perceive pilots with these kinds of everyday mental health issues as an inconvenience. There seems to be an overt attempt to discourage pilots from raising their hands. These issues tend to be dealt with in a disciplinary manner rather than from a health-based approach.

This is a very dangerous situation for the pilot and the airline as we have all seen, time and time again, that when mental health issues or serious stress are not allowed to be aired in a safe and healthy manner there can be tragic consequences for the pilot and others. That said, IALPA supports the establishment of a national peer support programme where aviation employees can come for help with mental health or substance issues without fear of sanction or reprisal from an aggressive management team representative. Our evidence from best international practice supports the establishment in primary legislation of a national peer support programme that allows pilots and crew members from all airlines to interact on a safe basis without fear of reprisal from their employers while also getting the help they need.