Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Tánaiste to the House. It is with great humility and sadness that I stand before him today to address the subject of the extreme and vile sexual violence in the Irish Defence Forces. As a nation, we have always prided ourselves on the honour and valour exhibited by our military personnel. We have a very proud legacy but, sadly, like many organisations, it has a desperate stain on its history. We must acknowledge that this report and our statements here today are not about the persecution of the Defence Forces but to drive forward and ensure the prosecution of the predators, and to protect and empower the victim. The many allegations of sexual violence within the Defence Forces have left us all shocked, disgusted and deeply saddened. It is our duty and responsibility to address these allegations in a timely and effective manner, to ensure that justice is served for all who have been affected, and that they are taken care of, with counselling and whatever they need.

While we rightly congratulate the Tánaiste on both the speedy publication and acceptance of the report of the independent review group into the Defence Forces, and I commend his commitment to implementing a comprehensive programme of immediate actions to address the shocking findings of this report, we should both acknowledge and regret that it took a sustained campaign by the Women of Honour group to bring us to this point. Through their work over the years, and more recently in their campaigning, they have done the State a great service. Their tireless persistence and calmness in the face of what we should now acknowledge was bureaucratic inertia is not just commendable, it is inspirational. They have shown us that you either stand for change or you do not stand at all.

We have a responsibility to change this State’s bureaucratic inertia. The situation cannot continue where victims have to go on the airwaves to embarrass the State into action. I am incredibly sick of the “nothing to see here” attitude in this country until people like Katie Hannon give people a platform to air their deepest, darkest, most traumatic moments to the entire nation. Victims should not have to do that to be heard. Time and time again, the privacy of someone’s life trauma has to get to the headlines to be heard and believed, and to get some accountability from the State.

I welcome the Tánaiste’s thorough endorsement of the report. The report states, “Respondents cited making a complaint as being career ending, and reported experiencing intimidation and acts of retaliation when they did make a complaint.” Elsewhere, the report reveals a workplace where self-worth and value are negated and disrespect is a dominant feature in an organisation resistant to change. It is truly damming, yet not surprising to me. When sexual intimidation, assault and violence are present, these are the very tools that predators use to control. This Government talks quite a bit about zero tolerance of gender-based violence but, as a woman, I feel that violence is tolerated through inaction, inertia and the inability of the State to change quickly enough to deal with the type of crime that is sexual violence. It is a different type of crime and it requires the State and justice system to act differently.

I commend the Tánaiste and his officials on what he has done to date and he has clearly outlined the incredible amount of work done since the report was published, which is all very welcome. I am very pleased and relieved to see that the Women of Honour’s primary and long-standing call for the establishment of a statutory inquiry has been agreed. I commend the Tánaiste on moving to establish this statutory inquiry - I hope the bulk of it can be heard in public - and for committing to establish an external oversight body on a statutory basis. These are very important decisions, both for the short and long-term future of our Defence Forces. Together, they will contribute to the betterment of the Defence Forces. This will be achieved through the investigation and identification of all issues and contributory factors, and a comprehensive understanding of the organisation’s failures. We must encourage more women into Óghlaigh na hÉireann. It is a good career but when there are questions like this, it does not seem attractive. We have a way to go but with a change of culture and improvement of pay and conditions, we can give more encouragement.

As a woman who grew up in this country, I know what it is like to be harassed, what it is like for a country not to speak up about sexual assaults. You do not want to be that young girl causing trouble. You do not want to be labelled as something you are not. Young women have grown up in this country knowing they have to “put up and shut up”. It is embarrassing now that I am older to think that among my peers, all of this was known and was common, but it was unsaid. Who were we going to say it to? It was our fault for putting ourselves in that position, for just being girls, for being vulnerable, for simply existing. Because of this, I genuinely want to express my real gratitude to all those who have come forward to share their experiences of sexual violence in the Defence Forces. Your courage, your bravery, is an inspiration to all of us. You are part of a societal change of empowerment for women to collectively and individually take a stand, to demand to be heard, to demand justice and to demand a safer place.

Time is of the essence, which I know the Tánaiste recognises. Delays will only undermine the positive work done. This is an urgent situation. The issue is important for us all and for the integrity of our Army. We need to know and trust that the State has the victims’ backs, and that the culture of “Say nothing, put up and shut up” is gone.