Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister will agree that many of the allegations of the Women of Honour relate to incidents that are heinous in nature. Women have been subjected to gross violations. A culture of sexism is absolutely unacceptable in any workplace. This cannot be seen in isolation; it must be seen as society-wide and in the context of how sexism and misogyny circulate in society. When women come forward, they do so to challenge terrible historical and present abuses. We have seen that through the #MeToo movement, whereby women across the world challenge terrible sexism and violations committed against them.

There is an obligation on the State to investigate the allegations of the Women of Honour. That is most important. There needs to be rigorous scrutiny in that regard. That can be done only through a public inquiry. That is what the women want. They are the most important voice in this debate. The independent review, as far as I understand, cannot compel witnesses to testify - the Minister might correct me if I am wrong on that - which means that it brings on a different definition. There was no consultation with the Women of Honour on the terms of reference of the review. They were largely ignored, which is very unfortunate. The women at the heart of this discussion were not consulted on those terms of reference. The women said this review or a public inquiry does not have to take years but must have teeth and must compel people to come along to testify on the reasons they engaged in this behaviour.

When the report is finalised - I think a period of six to nine months was referred to - it will not detail any specific incidence that happened, which is again very unfortunate. It is disappointing, to say the least, that the review will not make any recommendations on the assessments to which these women were subjected. Overall, and as we have said in the past few minutes, we need a public inquiry because that will ensure robust scrutiny of what has gone on and is probably still going on in the workplaces of the armed forces. A review is just not good enough at this stage.

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