Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

A few days ago, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, Deputy Micheál Martin, said those serving in the Defence Forces must be held to a higher standard because they are part of a force that is meant to protect society. That statement was backed up by Lieutenant General Clancy. I am sorry to say, I felt he should have spoken up for the honourable people in the Defence Forces rather than the people who were dishonourable.

Kathy Sheridan had a go at me and my colleague, Deputy Cathal Berry, in The Irish Times today for our defence of the Defence Forces, again outlining zero tolerance within the Defence Forces. Are we to have two different sets of standards? For example, in the Prison Service, a senior prison manager called a female colleague into his office, undressed himself and asked her to perform oral sex on him. She gets compensation of €100,000, and what happens to him?He was transferred. What about the psychiatrist in child and adolescent mental health services who sexually assaulted his 16-year-old client?