Manx Radio carried the interview with Cork man Jerome McCormick today. Jerome who lost a brother in one of the worst airline disasters over the Irish Sea in 1968 had come to the Isle of Man to thank the Celtic League for our support over several decades up to the commissioning of the most recent enquiry:
http://www.manxradio.com/…/league-thanked-in-search-for-ae…/
Following the enquiry we closed our (by that time copious) files on the affair. Of course questions still remained unanswered but short of some unforeseen breakthrough those questions will be unresolved. For Jerome and other relatives close to the event it is however too painful a hurt to put aside.
Over the years many hitherto unpublicised details did come to light and whilst the focus was on possible military involvement given the area where the crash occurred other possibilities such as catastrophic system failure were not ruled out.
The passage of time plus the demise of the Cold War ensured that hitherto unreleased information was forthcoming and our dealings with Department of Government in Ireland and London plus the Ministry of Defence were mostly positive.
We were grateful when the (then) Irish Transport Minister Nora Owen TD agreed to the most recent comprehensive enquiry and whilst that still left ambiguities it was thorough.
The relatives grief and the spectre of military involvement was however compounded in the original 1969 enquiry just months after the crash and those conclusions are difficult to air-brush from history.
Links to the enquiry report can be found in this earlier Facebook post we put out (link):
The full interview with Jerome is available at Manx Radio ON DEMAND Mandate 28th June (second part of the programme) and will be available for seven days.
Celtic League still undertakes military monitoring but the Aer Lingus EI-712 issue is not an active one.
Image: Aer Lingus early variant Vickers Viscount airliner similar to EI-712 ‘St Phelim’ – the Viscount had an overall exceptionally good safety record in service.
BERNARD MOFFATT
Public Relations Officer Mannin Branch
Issued by: The Mannin branch of the Celtic League.
28/06/17
