Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste but am a little bit confused about his reply. He spoke of resistance to change within the institution but then spoke of confidence in the leadership being able to change that. Will he clarify if he has confidence in the ability of the current leadership to change it, when it says it has no awareness? After 40 years of being an institution, it has no awareness. Is the Tánaiste worried about the disconnect there, if there is no awareness? The report is blunt and clear and it states that neither men nor women in the Defence Forces are working in a safe environment. That is a shocking indictment of our Defence Forces in 2023. The institution cannot guarantee safety for its own members, not just in a conflict zone but in a barracks here. It has to be stressed that much of this abuse is not just bad behaviour but criminal in nature.

I welcome all the recommendations of the report and commend the hard work and diligence of its authors, the women of honour and Katie Hannon. I am concerned at the length of time it might take to introduce those recommendations. The Tánaiste talked about the internal complaints body. There is clearly and understandably no trust in that. One of the recommendations is for an external one. When can we expect to see the reforms not just legislated for, which is required, but implemented and working? We know this is happening up to today and could be happening now.

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