- Aer Lingus pilot describes feeling like criminal during WRC hearing
- Tom O’Riordan sacked in 2024 after 14 months off sick
- Gardaí called to Aer Lingus headquarters on 14 February 2024
- Pilot alleges fume leaks into cabin air on 5 June 2023 flight
- Aer Lingus denies crew or passengers put at risk
A sacked Aer Lingus pilot has stated he felt like a criminal when gardaí saw him out of Aer Lingus’s headquarters after he vowed to go on hunger strike, accusing the airline of failing to act on alleged fume leaks into the cabins of its jets. Former Airbus A320 captain Tom O’Riordan was continuing his primary evidence to the Workplace Relations Commission in his whistleblower penalisation action against Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus strongly denies that any crew or passengers have been put at risk and states it dealt with Mr O’Riordan and his concerns properly.
The pilot was sacked in 2024 after 14 months off sick after he stated he was poisoned by oil contaminating the cabin air aboard an Airbus A320 he was flying empty to Dublin on 5 June 2023, having twice reported odours or fumes in the aircraft the day before. On 14 February 2024, Gardaí were called to Shamrock House, Aer Lingus’s headquarters at Dublin Airport, after Mr O’Riordan made demands during a grievance process meeting with two managers. Mr O’Riordan stated he was put to sit in a room on his own and was told that if he did not leave, he would be subject to mental health removal.
Mr O’Riordan stated he walked out a corridor through the lobby to the door with two uniformed gardaí, one either side of him, accompanied by Mark Tighe, the ex-president of pilots’ union IALPA. He was dismissed in August 2024 when a senior manager concluded in a disciplinary process that Mr O’Riordan set out to damage his colleagues and committed serious gross misconduct with the social media posts. Aer Lingus’s barrister has argued the posts cannot be shielded by whistleblower law. The hearings are due to resume.
Tom O’Riordan, former Aer Lingus pilot, shared: “I read a statement. I said that I was going to perform a sit-in and hunger strike at that time. I believed there was a manifest danger to the health and safety of the general public and crew in Aer Lingus. I realised from correspondence and documents I’d uncovered that Aer Lingus was fully aware of what was going on with fumes on aircraft and were doing nothing about it.”
