Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Beannachtaí Lá Fhéile Bríde oraibh ar fad. On the day we celebrate St. Brigid and Irish women in general, I draw the House's attention to the book just launched by Company Quartermaster Sergeant Karina Molloy, entitled A Woman in Defence. She was on "The Late Late Show" on Friday night and has been on all the major media platforms over recent days describing her time in the Defence Forces. The period spanned 30 years and 278 days. I was asked to review the book for The Irish Timesand was struck by the systemic and systematic nature of the sexual harassment and sexual assault that was perpetrated on Karina Molloy and her female colleagues during her time in the Defence Forces. It was systemic and systematic in that there was an explicit architecture of standard operating procedures, Defence Forces regulations and memorandums that made, and still make, the Defence Forces an explicitly discriminatory organisation with very little by way of aspiration to equality and diversity. In the book, Karina Molloy says that in her 30 years and 278 days of service she could only find three years in which she was not the target of a sexual assault, including attempted rape. Think about that.

I believe the report of the independent review group, the judge-led inquiry, into the toxic, misogynist culture of the Permanent Defence Force is being give to Cabinet today and will be passed on to the Attorney General. Publication is due in about three weeks' time. That is going to be a watershed moment for our armed forces because I believe it will show there has been no change and, in fact, that the culture has deteriorated in the 23 years since I set out the warning in my PhD. I know the Leader's commitment to our armed forces; we are fellow veterans. We need to have a major debate here. We need to have the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, in the Chamber after the report's publication to figure out what is happening. As Karina Molloy says, as it currently stands, the Defence Forces are a dangerous place for women. They are not fit to purport to serve the State if that is the case.