Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter in the Chamber today. Next Wednesday will mark the second anniversary of a dark day in the lives of two decent families, because 12 October 2009 was the day on which an Air Corps aircraft on a training flight crashed at Cornamona , west County Galway, resulting in the deaths of two of the Air Corps' best and brightest, namely, instructor Captain Derek Furniss and Cadet David Jevens. I was Minister for Defence at the time and recall well the scene at Baldonnel aerodrome as the coffins were brought in late at night, as well as the sense of shock, anguish and helplessness that permeated the entire defence community and people further afield. These scenes were repeated in no small measure at the funerals over the next couple of days, both of which I attended.

Obviously neither I, as Minister for Defence, nor the defence community nor anyone else was in a position to bring the two young men back. At the time, however, we promised their families that we would set up immediately an investigation by the air accident investigation unit, which would investigate the causes and the reason this happened and would explain this fully to the families by way of publishing a report at the earliest possible opportunity. The intention was to enable a measure of closure to be brought to the families, which have suffered greatly as a result of this unfortunate incident.

Records will show that when an investigation of this type is established, it usually takes a year to investigate the matter and come to the final report, which then is published. In this case, two years will have elapsed next Wednesday and yet the final report has not been published. Moreover, I am sorry to state the lines of communication between the Air Corps and the Department of Defence and the families of the two - or certainly the family of Cadet Jevens - are minimal to say the least, which greatly disappoints me. The usual procedure is that a draft report is prepared and given to all the interested parties to read. Thereafter, any interested party within this country has 30 days in which to make an observation on the matter, while parties outside the country, usually the manufacturer of the aeroplane, have 60 days in which to communicate.

The draft report was not given to the families until 14 July last, which was 21 months after the accident. Observations were made and the matter literally has been in limbo since. The Jevens family, which has spoken to me about this matter, is suffering the greatest anguish. It is unimaginable and no words of mine could adequately do justice to the anguish and trauma that family has suffered as a result of this incident. Moreover, this has been exacerbated out of all proportion by the delay in publishing the report. Consequently, I ask the Government to publish this report. While the Jevens family will never get over the loss of young David - his younger brother's main ambition in life now is to join the Air Corps - they need some closure and this is the only closure the State can offer to them. As more than double the usual length of time has elapsed and the second anniversary of the accidents falls next Wednesday, I ask the Government to undertake to either publish the report immediately or to give me a good reason it cannot be published.

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