Contributors to Defence Forces tribunal will be given support, minister says

Contributors to the Defence Forces tribunal will be given adequate support, Minister Helen McEntee has pledged.

The Government established a Tribunal of Inquiry to examine allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying and discrimination in the Defence Forces after the recommendations of a report by an independent review group (IRG).

It will look at the effectiveness of the complaints processes in the Defence Forces concerning workplace issues relating to discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct.

Reports of abusive behaviour have been made by the Women of Honour support group for former and current Defence Forces members.

Campaigners have raised concerns that a lack of proper real-time supports for those engaging with the tribunal could retraumatise victims of abuse.

On Thursday, Ms McEntee said she recently met Defence Forces representative organisations to understand if “there’s more that we can do”.

She added: “That’s exactly what I’m looking to do now.

“So anybody who’s engaging with the (tribunal), it’s really important that they do so with the support that they need, but it is important that the overall work of the tribunal is given the time and resources that it has been asked to do.

“My priority is to make sure that those who are engaging with it have the resources and supports that they need.

“There are levels of support that are already in place, but if there are more that need to be put in place that’s something that I’m absolutely committed to.”

The Defence Forces was granted an extension in providing documents to the tribunal last year.

In the orders for disclosure from both the minister and the chief of staff, the tribunal allowed for names and other identifiers to be anonymised.

Asked about how he was resourcing disclosure to the tribunal, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy said: “The Defence Forces are fully committed to supporting the Tribunal of Inquiry.”

He urged people to “come forward and engage with the tribunal”, adding: “We have fully supported the tribunal throughout the last year.”

He said: “The discovery orders that you asked about which were placed against me as Chief of Staff.

“We provided 40 personnel full time to that. The amount of records and the time period involved in the discovery period – back to ’98 – was significant.

“We sought and were approved an extension of our time, and we met that second deadline.

“We provide all of the records that the tribunal had asked us for on time in November, and they were submitted.”

The IRG report found members were aware of long-standing practices of reprisals, including pejorative comments and withholding of entitlements as well as physical assaults and unfounded accusations being sent to gardai.

Almost 90% of female respondents to the IRG said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment, while the review found a “discernible pattern of rape and sexual assault” in its analysis of participants’ contributions.

More than a third of respondents said they faced bullying within the Defence Forces.

On misogyny in the Defence Forces in general, different sources available to the IRG concluded that, at best, the Defence Forces “barely tolerates women” and, at its worst, “verbally, physically, sexually and psychologically abuses women in its ranks”.