A group of Defence Forces officer cadets were not permitted to graduate with their class last month following a drunken incident at the Defence Forces Training College.
The incident involved a group of cadets bringing alcohol into the dormitories last week before a smaller number of them allegedly acted inappropriately and caused damage to the accommodation.
The matter is now under investigation by the Military Police.
When the 97th Cadet class began training in 2020 it consisted of 75 potential Army and Air Corps officers. Twenty-three left the course over the following 18 months before the incident.
Forty-four received their scrolls of commission and officers swords at a ceremony last Tuesday in Collins Barracks in Dublin attended by Minister for Defence Simon Coveney.
These included six cadets from Malta. The Defence Forces has an arrangement with the Armed Forces of Malta to train its officers.
Among those who did not receive their commissions were eight cadets, who were told they would not be graduating due to the incident last Wednesday. Instead they are being what is known as “backclassed” – held back a year for further training.
Most of the cadets are being held back as it was their second time being caught with alcohol in breach of Defence Forces regulations while a smaller number are accused of more serious matters.
The incident is being taken extremely seriously by the military authorities. The military investigation is focused on two of the cadets rather than the entire group who were held back. These two cadets may face more serious sanctions, such as outright dismissal, depending on the results of the investigation, sources said.
"As a result of a breach of Cadet School Standing Orders involving the consumption of alcohol, a number of cadets scheduled for Commissioning this week have been reverted for further training," a Defence Forces spokeswoman said.
“On foot of this incident a Military Police investigation was immediately initiated and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
A Defence Forces source stressed the Military Police investigation is at an early stage and the cadets are “innocent until proven otherwise”.
Sources said the allegations against the officer cadets include that some acted inappropriately by at one point stripping off their clothes, and that they inappropriately interrupted a video call between a Maltese cadet and his mother.
“The alcohol offence on its own wouldn’t be regarded as terribly serious. Incidents like that happen with most classes, although it is considered a serious matter to be backclassed,” said a military source.
“It’s the subsequent behaviour, which in fairness involved a much smaller group of cadets, that’s the most worrying.”
The incident occurred in the last full week of the cadets’ rigorous 18 month-long training course which began in October 2020.
Although not yet commissioned officers, the cadets are still subject to military justice, including the possibility of court martial if alleged offences are deemed serious enough.
The culture in the training college, which is located in the Curragh Camp, has been the subject of several internal complaints in recent years, including one protected disclosure to the Minister which was made in 2020.
More broadly, the Defence Forces has been the subject of a series of complaints of discrimination, harassment and sexual abuse recently, including most notably by the Women of Honour group last year.
These allegations are currently the subject of an independent judge led review which is due to report by the end of the year. It is understood the review group has already received a large number of submissions.
