Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

There is a trend in how this Government deals with scandals that are made known by campaigning groups. The Government usually says sorry here in the Dáil in measured, grave tones. It promises it will never happen again and that an investigation or tribunal into the scandal will be held. However, when it comes to the business end, the creation of the investigation, the Government usually waters down the terms of reference so that the tribunal or investigation becomes a whitewash. We have seen this over and over again. The CervicalCheck tribunal is one example. Unfortunately, it is now happening to the Women of Honour. The Government promised these brave women that they would be included in the development of the terms of reference for the proposed tribunal but, in recent times, the Tánaiste has shattered that illusion. The Women of Honour group has called for the term "abuse" to include psychological abuse and for the investigation to focus on the culture that exists within the Defence Forces that led to rape, sexual abuse, the cover-up and the bullying of the whistleblowers within the organisation. However, the Government is now reneging on the promises made to these women. It is looking to limit the investigations to those who have already accessed the internal complaints procedures. This is despite the independent review group admitting that 70% of women who have been abused do not access the complaints procedure. At this late stage, will the Taoiseach fix the damage the Tánaiste has done and adhere to the request of the Women of Honour group to include its objectives in the terms of reference?

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