Defence Forces risks 'not serving public interest' and wasting taxpayer's money

Irish Examiner

20-06-2025

The Defence Forces tribunal faces 'falling short' of its aims and is in danger of wasting taxpayer money, it has heard in a special sitting.
In a submission to chairperson Ms Justice Ann Power, a solicitor for the Defence Forces Justice Alliance said there was a risk the tribunal would 'not sufficiently serve the public interest and may instead represent a further misuse of public resources and funds'.
The sitting of the tribunal, which was established to inquire into how the Defence Forces' handled complaints about abuse, also heard a 'software hiccup' had delayed the provision of documents from the Defence Forces to the tribunal team.
The way abuse is defined is one of the main issues concerning survivors of Defence Forces mistreatment and other abuses.
John Geary, of JV Geary Solicitors, said at the sitting that current tribunal definitions of "abuse" and "complaints of abuse" complicate matters.
This was, he said, because the tribunal's definitions of what abuse is did not exist within the Defence Forces' own complaints processes — known as the Redress of Wrongs system — before the tribunal was even set up.
He also said in order to participate in the tribunal, he said it appeared complainants had to prove any so-called 'interpersonal' issues they had must first fall within the definition of abuse or complaints of abuse.
He told Ms Justice Power very few of the members of the Defence Forces Justice Alliance, for example, had ever submitted complaints of abuse.
They had instead submitted 'complaints of inappropriate behaviour and complaint grievances'.
Mr Geary said: 'The Defence Forces Justice Alliance are concerned the terms of reference continue to cause further trauma to victims of abuse. They reflect a complete disregard for whether the interpersonal issues contained in submitted complaints are credible.'
In response, Defence Forces Senior Counsel (SC) Darren Lehane said: 'The tribunal has no power to expand its terms of reference. This can only be done pursuant to the procedures set out in the Tribunals of Inquiry (Evidence) Act 1921-2011.
'This may involve a request which must then be considered by the Attorney General on behalf of the minister and must then be followed by a resolution passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.'
His colleague Patrick McCann (SC) also told Ms Justice Power there was a delay accessing certain files relevant to the tribunal because there were 189 markers — or reference points — missing from complaints files.
He explained 'a universe of documents, maybe 72 million' will be searched in an attempt to find the missing markers.
The number of documents being searched represents, he said, 'every single document that was created and saved at some point is somewhere on the IT network'.
He added: '[There's] been a software hiccup in that respect, but hopefully that's resolved, and those searches are beginning.'
The sitting also heard Defence Forces tribunal staff have had to undergo trauma training, due to the nature of the material they are expected to have to review.
Ms Justice Power said her team needed training on the best way to handle serious allegations concerning a variety of matters, including 'physical torture, physical assault, psychological harm, sexual harassment, and sexual misconduct'.
The tribunal was one of the recommendations of the Independent Review Group report in March 2023, which concluded the Defence Forces "barely tolerates women", and, at its worst, verbally, physically, sexually and psychologically abuses women in its ranks.
It noted 80% of harassment of male and female personnel was perpetrated by one or more members of a higher rank to the victim.