Mr. Justice Alan Mahon:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend and for the opportunity to highlight some aspects of the work which I, as Ombudsman for the Defence Forces, and my office do. As members will be aware, my office was established by the Ombudsman (Defence Forces) Act 2004 and commenced its business in late 2005. The role of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces is, essentially, to provide serving and former members of the Defence Forces with a free and independent complaint resolution process. The Ombudsman for the Defence Forces is independent from the Defence Forces and the Department of Defence. While the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces cannot make binding decisions, he or she can make findings and recommendations. In practice, over 95% of recommendations are accepted by the Minister for Defence.

My office is relatively small, with just three staff members and myself. Our offices are based on Earlsfort Terrace, having moved there from Lower Hatch Street early last year. Our budget from the Department of Defence is a little over €400,000, including my salary and those of my staff. The Secretary General of the Department has indicated to me on occasion that any request for an increase in my budget would be favourably considered. However, to date no such increase has been required or sought. While my office is usually busy, and sometimes extremely busy, currently it can manage reasonably well on its current budget and without additional staff. In general, most complaints are processed and reported on within four to eight weeks. A small number of more complex complaints, or cases where difficulties with the collection of information arise, may take a little longer to conclude. All new complaints receive immediate attention and all investigations commence without delay. Complaints of an urgent nature are always given priority.

I note that the committee’s primary focus is the annual reports for 2022, 2023 and 2024. These annual reports, which include case summaries, provide quite a detailed account of the work of my office over these 12-month periods, including an insight into some of the types of cases that are investigated, having due regard to the strict requirement for confidentiality as provided for in section 10 of the 2004 Act. The committee will note from the annual reports that, over the three years, directly referred complaints, as distinct from complaints that are initially referred to, and investigated by, the Defence Forces’ internal grievance process, have steadily increased in percentage terms. In 2022, less than 10% of referrals were directly referred to my office. In 2023, this increased to 50%, while in 2024 the figure was 80%. I believe it likely this percentage will further increase this year. In my annual report for 2023 I speculated as to the cause of this rapidly increasing number of directly referred complaints, stating:

A possible explanation is some decrease in confidence that the internal Section 114 process is yielding satisfactory outcomes for complainants. Additionally, the IRG Report over 12 months ago did little to create confidence in the internal investigation process.

In addition, the option for a serving member to directly refer a complaint to my office prior to 2021 was unavailable.

However, I am aware that significant strides have been made within the Defence Forces over the past 18 months or so to improve their internal investigation processes, including better training of their investigators, and indications so far this year suggest that there is an increased use of the Defence Forces internal grievance processes when compared with last year. Importantly also, the Defence Forces have appointed a civilian head of strategic HR.

There is a significant variation of complaint subject matters in any one year, or over a number of years. Complaints relating to promotion and course selection continue to make up the largest category. They comprised 35% in 2022, 50% in 2023 and 50% in 2024. Interpersonal-type complaints, which cover a variety of issues including bullying and exclusion, are small in number, relatively speaking and, including the trend so far this year, are decreasing in number as an overall percentage of complaints. I do not have figures for this category of complaint which have been, or are being, investigated under what is referred to as the chapter 1 internal Defence Forces’ process or, indeed, the recently introduced and revamped Defence Forces’ internal investigation process for bullying-type complaints under the management of the interim grievance manager, IGM. I am of the belief that the publicity afforded to the historical cases of bullying and inappropriate behaviour, over the past three years, including the issues highlighted by the so-called Women of Honour group, the IRG report of 2022 and the establishment of the current tribunal of inquiry, have helped to highlight the misery suffered by some within the Defence Forces from such behaviour and historical issues relating to complaining about such behaviour, and the need to have a fit-for-purpose investigation process for such complaints.

I also believe from anecdotal reports that this publicity and the steps taken as outlined have served to reduce the incidence of such behaviour in the Defence Forces. Personnel engaging in such behaviour are now much more likely to be exposed and disciplined than might have been the case previously and this fact obviously acts as a deterrent to such behaviour.

The committee will see other interesting statistics from the three annual reports, such as the fact that there was a noticeable increase in complaints from officers as compared with enlisted personnel. In 2024, for example, complaints from officers represented 40% of the total, whereas in the previous year that figure was just 10%. In general, over recent years, complaints from female personnel have been roughly proportionate to their number in the Defence Forces. Over the past three years, there were no complaints from female personnel of alleged gender discrimination, whereas there were two such complaints from male personnel. In this three-year period, I have not received any complaints of what might be described as inappropriate sexual behaviour.

I am also happy to report that I continue to receive excellent co-operation from the Department and from the Defence Forces in relation to requests for information and documentation. In particular, the Defence Forces’ grievance management office is always helpful and efficiently responds to the frequent requests from my office for such assistance.