Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

On 12 October 2009, as the result of a crash on an Air Corps training flight, Cadet David Jevens tragically died, as did Captain Derek Furniss. In the question I tabled I asked that the court of inquiry's investigation be reopened. The Minister of State indicated that the Attorney General has been asked to provide advice, and I welcome that in so far as it goes. However, much more needs to be done.

The father of the late Cadet Jevens's is observing in the Visitors' Gallery. The family of the late Cadet Jevens, in particular, are deeply unhappy with the conduct of the court of inquiry for a number of specific reasons. The first of these is that Defence Force regulation A5(2) directs that a certified copy of the proceedings in the Coroner's Court be forwarded to the court of inquiry. This was not done. Evidence was given at the Coroner's Court and the cross-examination of witnesses in that court yielded vital evidence about the tragedy. Important parts of that evidence were contracted during the proceedings of the court of inquiry, but no attempt was made to reconcile the differences that came to light or to cross-examine witnesses. The second reason is that no safety audit was carried out in the flight training school between 2004 and early 2009. There was criticism of this fact in the air accident investigation unit's report. However, the then flight safety officer was never called before the court of inquiry. The third reason is that the commanding officer of the flight training school was on other duties for more than half of the time leading up to and during 2009. He was never called upon to give evidence before the court of inquiry.

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