Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I would like to welcome the Women of Honour to the Public Gallery. I was proud to raise the case of the Women of Honour for the first time in the Dáil more than 18 months ago. I was also proud to bring them to the AV room so they could make a presentation to other Deputies about their experience.

The way that these women and men were treated by the State was absolutely horrendous. It was clear to me that I had a responsibility to ensure the Government initiated some kind of response. The State owes these women a debt of gratitude for their courageous campaign to shine a light on the litany of shocking abuses within the Defence Forces.

The Women of Honour are women who sought to work in the service of the State. They put their lives on the line for us and, shockingly, their service was met by assault, rape, abuse, bullying and discrimination. The people who were responsible for these actions went about their careers untouched. We need to ensure that we do right by these women. The first thing required is a commitment from the Tánaiste that the terms of reference that will underpin the promised independent statutory inquiry will be developed in full agreement with the Women of Honour. Anything less would be a continuation of the injustices they have experienced in the past. I ask the Tánaiste to make that commitment. Many times in this State we have heard strong words, as we have today, that have not been followed up with action. I refer to the apology that was made to the women who suffered under CervicalCheck. They were told that no woman would ever again have to go to court to achieve justice and yet, three years after that apology, the courts are full of women seeking that justice. That is an important point.

The shocking way these women were treated also poses some critical questions about senior Army management, the Department and previous Ministers for Defence. The report published this week states that the Defence Forces are not currently a safe place to work. How many other organisations in the country where such a situation existed would not already have serious accountability mechanisms in place? Would there not be resignations in any other organisation in the country if that were the case? Have these types of wrongdoing been brought to light in other organisations in the country without any consequent resignations? The positions of many in the general staff are untenable as a result of what has happened. This is not the first time that these situations have been brought to light. There have been protected disclosures and cases have been brought before the Workplace Relations Commission, yet senior management and the general staff have not acted. The Department and successive Minister for Defence have not acted. That must change now.

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