Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to say that significant efforts have been made to try to address this issue in the Defence Forces but they have not worked. Dr. Eileen Doyle, for example, did fantastic work on some of the independent monitoring group reports that she was involved in and her efforts are ongoing. Many people in the Defence Forces have also been advocating for change in this space. A women's network has been set up as well as a support network for LGBTQ communities within the Defence Forces. Confidential reporting systems have been put in place but it has not worked for many people. We need to look at the full picture here and figure out why there is still an issue for some people in terms of discrimination and harassment within the Defence Forces which is completely unacceptable. This group needs to understand why what we have done to date has not worked to the extent that it needs to and how we can fix that for the future in terms of a fundamental cultural change. However, we cannot wait for many months while this review group comes up with its recommendations. We must act much sooner than that in terms of interim measures. I am open to the kinds of interim measures that the Deputies are proposing. We asked the women I met this week about the kinds of interim measures they would welcome. There needs to be a safe space for people to report, confidentially, without fearing negative consequences for reporting such as being labelled as a troublemaker.

We are going to set up this review properly and we are going to introduce interim measures in the weeks ahead. We will take a lot of advice on those measures to try to provide a reassuring and professional system in the Defence Forces to deal with many people who now feel empowered to come forward, having heard many of the stories of the last few weeks.

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