Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)

I thank the Minister for that reply. Would he consider it strange that none of the cases in the 2006 report of the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces related to bullying, harassment or sexual harassment, and that 21 of the 26 cases related to the issues the Minister mentioned already? It should be noted that these procedures were brought in based on the previous report of the ombudsman. Is it hard to accept that there were no complaints about bullying, harassment or sexual harassment? If so, why are the complaints not coming through at this level? I understand they come through at a different informal level in the Army. Is this a health situation vis-À-vis the ombudsman service?

See this speech in context