Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Defence his position on homosexuals serving in the Defence Forces; if his attention has been drawn to claims in a court case against the State that soldiers were asked to resign if their superiors became suspicious that they might be homosexual; and the measures he has taken to ensure that members of the Defence Forces are treated equally regardless of gender, race or sexual orientation. [38179/06]

Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy's question notes, a number of statements were made in the course of a recent hearing in the High Court of a personal injuries claim against the State for damages, arising from alleged sexual assaults allegedly committed by a former NCO against the Plaintiff in those particular proceedings. The alleged assaults were claimed to have taken place in a time frame spanning the period 1989 to 1995. The judgement of the High Court is awaited and I cannot comment on the substance of the case in any way whatsoever.

It should be emphasized that the statements arose in the context of the attitudes to homosexual behaviour and to homosexuality which would have been prevalent within the Defence Forces within the particular period of the time frame relevant to the case and also within a wider historical framework dating back to the 1970s. Moreover, it should be recalled that certain acts of homosexual behaviour continued to constitute criminal acts, potentially carrying a punishment of imprisonment in the event of conviction, until substantive amendment of the relevant legislation in 1993.

Contemporary legislation, in the form of the Employment Equality Acts, 1998 to 2004, prohibits discrimination on nine specified grounds. One of these specified grounds is sexual orientation. The Defence Forces Equality and Equal Status Policy (Chapter 6.6.2) clearly prohibits discrimination in relation to race, gender and sexual orientation.

The Defence Forces are committed to identifying and valuing difference in the staff to take account of the promotion of equality of opportunity on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, family and marital status, religious belief and membership of the Traveller community. Recognising difference, naming them and taking account of them is part of the new culture of equality in the Defence Forces that is becoming more diversified and a society that is more cosmopolitan and varied.

Regulations do exist covering interpersonal relationships of whatever nature between individual members of the Defence Forces, having appropriate regard, in particular, to differences in rank. This is necessary in the context of the specific nature and structure of the Defence Forces.