The inquiry into allegations of widespread sexual abuse and harassment in the Defence Forces may take the form of a public tribunal or a commission which carries out its work in private, the Tánaiste has said.
Micheál Martin, who is also Minister for Defence, was speaking following criticism by the Women of Honour campaign group of the Government’s draft terms of reference for the inquiry.
The Women of Honour group, the first to raise allegations of sexual attacks and a range of abuses in the Defence Forces, says the Government’s proposals are too narrow and has published its own proposed terms of reference in response.
It has insisted only a full tribunal of inquiry, concluding with a published report after a holistic examination of the Defence Forces, will be successful in “overhauling” the military. It says such a process would take time and would be costly, but no other form of statutory inquiry would be able to make the recommendations needed for the deep reforms required.
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Speaking on Monday before meeting with Mr Martin, the Women of Honour group said they had been “steadfast” in their approach that “the only option at this point is a tribunal of inquiry, because there needs to be public scrutiny”.
“There has been far too much secrecy and concealment. We need something that has full transparency,” Diane Byrne, a former Army officer and a member of the group, said.
“The issue with the commission of inquiry is that’s done in private and everything so far has been about privacy and secrecy. Anything done behind closed doors isn’t going to believed.”
Ms Byrne said the Defence Forces was currently “on its knees” with “a huge number of people leaving and very, very low morale”.
“If they want to salvage and revive the Defence Forces without the toxicity they need to look at every single problem and all of the abuses that have happened and fix them. If we only look at a small portion of it, this is never going to change.”
Speaking before the meeting, Mr Martin said he will take the views of all interested groups into account and that a decision has still to be made on the format of the planned statutory inquiry into the allegations.
He said it is important the inquiry is timely, that it allows victims to come forward and that it enables “a cultural transformation within our Defence Forces”.
The decision to establish a statutory inquiry was reached following a damning report from the Independent Review Group earlier this year which detailed allegations of widespread discrimination, bullying, harassment and sexual abuse in the Defence Forces, much of which targeted women members.
Mr Martin said there were now two options, a public inquiry, similar to the Disclosures Tribunal which dealt with Garda misconduct, or a commission of investigation. A commission was the format used to examine abuses within mother and baby homes. The format is intended to be quicker and cheaper than tribunals while still retaining powers to compel witnesses to testify.
Mr Martin said he is not ruling out either option of a public or private inquiry. Both will be roughly the same in terms of cost, he said.
“Whatever is in the best interest of victims is what will determine our approach.”
Speaking after the meeting, a spokesman for Mr Martin said both the Tánaiste and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar “listened carefully to the concerns raised, and thanked the group for taking the time to meet with them”.
“Following the meeting, submissions from a number of stakeholders will be considered, in consultation with the Attorney General. In finalising the terms of reference for a statutory inquiry the Government wants to ensure that that it is timely and serves the best interests of survivors of abuse.
“And that, together with the implementation of the other recommendations in the Report, there is a fundamental transformation of culture within the Defence Forces,” the spokesman added.
