Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I again clarify for Deputy Moynihan that enlisted personnel can be discharged for any one of 26 reasons outlined and identified in Defence Forces regulations. Of the 68, somewhere in the mid-40s are still before the courts. We have to allow due process to take its course. I take a view, which I have made clear to the Chief of Staff, that where someone is guilty, particularly of a section 3 assault, which is a very serious offence - an attack on a woman or a male, or rape or sexual assault, there is no place for that. There cannot be a place for that within the Defence Forces. That is the bottom line. The regulations facilitate discharge but after the appeal process is concluded. In the context, I have asserted, certainly in terms of sexual assault and rape, that notwithstanding regulations, there are other mechanisms such as the regulation of local leave that should be deployed and used immediately in respect of sexual assault and rape. That is just for being charged, as happens in other areas in the public service.

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