Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If the Minister wants, I can debate it with him afterwards.

The terms of reference deal with complaints. I have met those in the Public Gallery. I welcome and support them and they are very courageous. In many cases, they did not make complaints because they could not. If they made a complaint, they were bullied, sidelined, attacked or drummed out of the Defence Forces. That is one of the key issues. Perhaps the Minister will say there was no complaints system, but these complaints date back years. From 2017 onwards, I raised the abuse with Minister after Minister, senior and junior. I also raised it with the Tánaiste. I did the same in respect of Lariam, but all I got was the claim that the Government held the health and safety of our Defence Forces as a priority. No Minister ever listened to me in this Chamber. I was not doing this off my own bat or for votes, as the majority of the people I was dealing with came from outside my constituency. I was doing this out of concern. I could see the effects this was having on people, yet time and again, Ministers told me they could not comment on it because the Defence Forces had told them I was wrong. We did not even consider international best practice. Other defence forces around the world ran a million miles away from Lariam, but it was the best thing since sliced bread in this country. We kept poisoning our men and women who were operating overseas even though it was shown time and again inside and outside this House that Lariam was the wrong drug to use.

Regarding the abuse of chemicals, the military authorities blatantly knew there was no PE. The reports were there. In fact, the military authorities forced people to shred those reports. Reports were done into health and safety in the Defence Forces by another branch of the State. Those reports are there now. They show that the Department and Ministers were lied to, which means this House was lied to. Ministers stood in front of me, particularly the then Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, whom I tortured on this issue week in and week out for years, and parroted information to me about cases of chemical abuse.

I could go on. These are not proper terms of reference. The tribunal is not open and needs to be much wider. Those in the Gallery and elsewhere should have their voices heard and acted upon so that no other generation has to deal with the abuse they have had to suffer.

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