Tom Clonan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming in here today. I thank my colleagues in the Seanad for proposing this motion and for the work that they have done, notably Senator Seery Kearney, who has done great work in this area, and Senator Ward.

I have seen Mr. Mick Finnegan. I live not far from where I have often seen him standing on the footpath.I salute him and commend him on his bravery and moral courage. He should not have had to do what he has done. I will expand on that.

When I read the report and look at the recommendations, it is in the context of the report of the independent review group published yesterday on serious sexual harassment and sexual assault within our Defence Forces. The dynamics are exactly the same. Regarding the recommendations around not investigating disclosures of sexual abuse and trying to downplay, push back or cancel people who make such disclosures, we had exactly the same pattern of behaviour within the Defence Forces. In fact, we now know that the military authorities, like the St. John Ambulance of Ireland authorities, knew for 23 years that there was systemic and systematic sexual violence within the Defence Forces. Not only did they not deal with that, but they engaged in a pattern of reprisals and retribution against anybody who raised concerns about inappropriate behaviour, sexual assault and rape. Anybody who spoke up was targeted for immediate retaliation and retribution. You find that pattern of retaliation and retribution in the report on St. John Ambulance. Anybody who spoke was isolated or deemed to be a troublemaker and allegations would be made to undermine their integrity and character. Rather than deal with the substantive issues there is a tendency to focus on the person who is being targeted in this way.

What happened in our armed forces involved the targeting of mostly women but also a lot of men. In fact, 88% of women in the organisation report at least two experiences of serious sexual harassment in the last year, as do 17% of men, up to and including rape. Within the military, the vulnerable cohort are enlisted personnel in the main, including female soldiers and young enlisted men. There is an artificial class divide that was inherited from the British army and incorporated into the culture of the Defence Forces of Óglaigh na hÉireann. That status difference facilitated the power differences that were an accelerator to grooming, predatory behaviour, sexual assault and rape. The report talks about the culture of status and rank where cadets were identified, groomed and targeted. In the case of this report, we are talking about children.

As a society, as human beings, we can make a moral rationale for lying or stealing. We can make a moral rationale even for killing. That is the basis upon which the military or the police work, in defence of your own life or other people's lives. As a species, however, there is one thing for which there can be no moral rationale and that is to sexually abuse another human being. To sexually abuse a child is even worse. I was made aware of one case in the Army where a young male soldier with his whole life in front of him was brutally and repeatedly raped by a non-commissioned officer, NCO. That NCO, a sergeant, took the precaution of filming the rapes and then confronted this young man with the footage and said he would make him a YouTube star if he raised this issue. That young man went on to die by suicide in a most horrific way. His family are absolutely devastated. To take that level of violence and apply it to a child who is a cadet. It is perverse that someone might join St. John Ambulance to help and do their civic duty and then be treated in that way, not only by the perpetrator but by the organisation itself, which subordinated its duty of care to these children to the status and reputation of the organisation in exactly the same way our Defence Forces have done. This is a top-down problem in both institutions. The board has serious questions to answer. This drove that young man, a fully trained soldier, to take his own life. When I see Mick Finnegan standing here, standing tall and standing proud, I commend him on his courage and his bravery. I hope he gets everything he is looking for and his full vindication is carried forward. I commend this motion.