Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 7, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following:

“Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act

7.Section 7 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (2): “(3) A person convicted by court-martial in a military court should be subject to all of the same notification requirements outlined in this Act as a person convicted of the same crime in a civilian court.”.”.

I thank the Minister of State for attending. As he may or may not be aware, currently, members of the Defence Forces who are convicted of sex offences under the Defence Acts are not registered as sex offenders. Statements issued by the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces have confirmed that nobody has been referred to the sex offenders register.

Twenty-three years ago, as a serving captain in Óglaigh na hÉireann, I completed a PhD on the experiences of my female colleagues in the Defence Forces. That research showed there were exceptionally high levels of gender-based discrimination and gender-based violence within the Defence Forces, up to and including routine sexual assault and rape. I sounded that warning 23 years ago and, for my troubles, I was subjected to a campaign of character assassination, and what is now termed whistleblower reprisal, by the members of the general staff. It was before their time. They engaged in what is called cancel culture. Rather than deal with the substantial issues that were presented to them comprehensively, they failed and instead resorted to this cowardly and ongoing practice of reprisal and cancellation.

I sought an independent Government inquiry from the then Minister for Defence, Michael Smith, and in 2001, he put in place a study review group that investigated my research. In 2003, that group issued its preliminary findings and confirmed that Óglaigh na hÉireann, the Defence Forces, was a toxic workplace environment. It also confirmed the level of sexual violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment and rape within the organisation. Not only was it an experience for female personnel, but the group also looked at the experiences of male personnel and found that vulnerable men within the Defence Forces had been targeted in the same way.

As the Minister of State is probably aware, the independent review group has published its report and it is now with the Cabinet and the Attorney General. It was to have been published before the end of January; it is now March. I have requested a copy from the Tánaiste. As yet, I have received no sight of it, but I believe the results of the judge-led, independent review group will show quite clearly that the Defence Forces have not improved in the past 23 years and that, in many respects, circumstances may have deteriorated, which raises the question as to what successive general staffs have been doing for the past 23 years. This deterioration, if it is the case, happened on their watch. I ask them to cease and desist from their ongoing campaign of cancellation and reprisal against people such as me who have raised these issues. As part of that, I ask the Minister of State and my colleagues, on International Women's Day, to accept the amendment. Why would they not accept it?

I am aware of at least two incidents where members of the Defence Forces who had been found guilty of sex offences but were not recorded on the sex offenders register went on to rape women in the wider community. The Defence Forces are charged, in their mission statement, with protecting the State from external and internal threats. I suspect that whenever the independent review group’s report is published by Cabinet, it will show that our Defence Forces, Óglaigh na hÉireann, are not a safe place for women. They are not a safe place for 51% of the population. That being the case, the Defence Forces cannot purport to protect or defend the State from any external aggressors, nor should we send them into an environment where there are vulnerable women and children in conflict zones if we do not have in place at home all the transformative structures required to bring them into line with international best practice in the military and with all the evidence-based approaches to sex offending and the registering of sex offenders.

Will the Minister of State please accept the amendment? It is self-evident as to why it is necessary. We must end the culture of secrecy, reprisal and cancellation around the phenomenon of sexual violence that is persistent and pervasive within Óglaigh na hÉireann. That is the least we owe the serving air crew, sailors and soldiers of our Defence Forces and it is the least we owe the public. Moreover, in fairness, we owe the current general staff and Chief of Staff, who have inherited this situation, and the Secretary General of the Department of Defence some sort of assistance in getting to grips with this appalling and vile phenomenon within our Defence Forces.