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

The timeframe for the review to take place will be agreed as part of the terms of reference. My understanding is we are looking at a review that will probably take about six months. This will produce a report with recommendations which we will obviously want to act on fully within the Defence Forces, supported by the Department and the Government more generally. I am sure there will be an opportunity to focus on those recommendations when that report is done.

The independent monitoring group, IMG, process has a value. When I was last Minister for Defence, we worked a lot on the IMG process to improve systems in the Defence Forces around reporting. There have been a whole series of changes within the Defence Forces linked to the IMG and the series of reports and reviews done through it. Unfortunately, the testimonies we have heard from people show the IMG process has not made the fundamental change in culture in the Defence Forces that is needed. While new reporting systems and LGBTQ support groups and support lines and counselling services within the Defence Forces have been put in place, and that is a good thing, there is a still an issue for some serving in the Defence Forces with feeling isolated and cases of bullying and sexual harassment.

We need a very comprehensive response to that in terms of creating an atmosphere that is safe and effective to ensure people commit to the Defence Forces in the future in the numbers we need. We have taken the view we now want to focus on an outside, independent review process. Of course, when we get the recommendations from that report we will act on those, but we also want to involve different stakeholder groups, including the Women of Honour, to ensure both the make-up of that independent review group and the terms of reference are acceptable to everybody and that they have full trust in that process.

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