Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope our visitors will forgive me for not dwelling on a welcome, given that I have two and half minutes. How did we get to this point? Two years and four months have passed since the Women of Honour went on the Katie Hannon show, highlighting serious abuse over three decades. It is two years tomorrow since the independent review was established, an exercise the Women of Honour and most of the Opposition in the Dáil at the time said would be inadequate. It is ten months since the damning final report of the independent review group, IRG, was published in March 2023. It is 24 years since Tom Clonan, now Senator, published his research, and 22 years since the publication of the report of the external advisory group on the Defence Forces headed by Dr. Eileen Doyle . It is 34 years since the Gleeson commission reported, highlighting inadequacies in the redress of wrongs and the victimisation of those seeking redress. We have known all about this for a very long time.

In relation to culture, and I note my colleague talked about it in a different way, the report of the IRG stated:

Apart from the horrendous nature of the alleged rapes and sexual assaults suffered and described in great detail to the IRG-DF, what happened afterwards is of equal concern. Instead of delivering a proper, modern, streamlined and skilled response to the complainant, the individual was often told to bury the complaint, or they were asked whether they seriously wanted to complain formally.

It went on to state that "the majority of respondents stated that they did not make a formal complaint of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment or sexual assault, and the main reason given for this failure to report was that there was no point". The report also noted:

The prevailing workplace culture is one that is disabling when it comes to supporting dignity and respect in the workplace. The IRG-DF’s analysis reveals a workplace where self-worth and value are negated and disrespect is a dominant feature.

There is any amount of evidence the complaints process was not fit for purpose. It was clearly not fit for purpose, yet we are setting up a tribunal to determine whether it was fit for purpose, as opposed to a tribunal that will look at how, in God's name, a system could be so bad that it failed to deal with the serious complaints coming before it. We have set up a tribunal where we have not even acknowledged the role of the Women of Honour. We have set up a tribunal - or are about to - with no interim reports or anything like that, and an endeavour to finish in three years. Finally, the Government has clarified that those who did not make a complaint previously can come forward. That should have been reflected clearly as a term of reference.

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