Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance)
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51. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence if the Government will instigate a public tribunal on bullying and sexual abuse in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22022/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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While acknowledging the high regard in which the Defence Forces is held and the many honest hardworking individuals amongst its ranks, as I have already stated, one cannot but be disturbed and upset by the contents in the Report of the Independent Review Group. The conclusions are stark and shocking and go to the very heart of issues relating to dignity, mutual respect and equality issues in the Defence Forces.

As I have already indicated, a completely honest appraisal of the problems and a comprehensive plan to address them is the only way to honour the contribution of serving and retired personnel and rebuild trust.

As the Deputy will also be aware from my previous statements today, the Government has agreed to progress, as a priority, the report’s recommendations including the establishment of a statutory inquiry to investigate whether there have been serious systemic failures in dealing with individual complaints in relation to interpersonal issues, including but not limited to sexual misconduct.

In line with this commitment, I have consulted with the Attorney General in respect of its establishment and obtained assistance in the preparation of draft terms of reference for the Inquiry.

I initially met with a number of stakeholders on 27th March, including a cohort of serving members, the Representative Associations and Women of Honour, to advise them that I intended to bring the Report to Government on Tuesday 28th March. While I could not share the Report with the groups at that time, I did commit to meeting with each group again, once they had an opportunity to consider it in full.

I subsequently met again with stakeholders on 2 May last, including the Defence Womens Network, the Defence Forces Representative Associations, the Women of Honour group and the Men and Women of Honour group. In addition, the Secretary General, Department of Defence met with the Defence Forces Veteran Associations and with Civil and Civilian Employee Unions.

At these most recent meetings, draft proposed terms of reference for the forthcoming Statutory Inquiry were shared. I have requested the groups to provide feedback in writing to me so that their observations can be included for consideration in preparing the terms of reference.

I look forward to hearing the feedback from each of the Groups and of course, I am prepared to participate in further engagement and consultation with stakeholders on the nature of the Inquiry and the proposed terms of reference.