Women of Honour group not informed of garda plans to pursue 'predators' in the Defence Forces

Members of Women of Honour Yvonne O Rourke Karina Molloy and Diane Byrne. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos

Gardaí will pursue "predators" in the Defence Forces, in an operation that is already investigating 26 allegations of abuse.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said a “national operation” has been set up to receive complaints from serving or retired Defence Force members of rape and sexual assault.

He has encouraged Defence Force members who have a complaint to contact their local Garda station.

Gardaí are already investigating reports of sexual assault in the Defence Forces dating back as far as the 1960s, he said.

“There may be predators out there, and we need to make sure that if individuals are accused of multiple offences, that we gather all the evidence and report that to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP)”, Mr Harris said.

We have set up a national operation in terms of receiving complaints from retired and indeed serving members of the Defence Forces who wish to make a complaint of sexual assault or serious sexual assault. That’s in place already.

Retired army captain, and a member of the Women of Honour group, Diane Byrne has said that the organisation was not informed in advance of the Garda Commissioner’s plans to launch a unit to investigate cases of sexual assault in the Defence Forces.

Ms Byrne told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the first they heard of the unit was through the media.

When asked about her experience of garda involvement in complaints within the Defence Forces, she said it was anecdotal, but that any action should be part of a statutory inquiry.

Questions remained about what had happened to historic complaints.

This course of action had always been open to members of the Defence Forces, she said, “although it was never really overtly publicised or overly encouraged.

“So we really need to understand what's going on. This all seems very, very fast and very new. 

Of course, we welcome it. For what it seems to be. But we have no understanding of what that is.

"And it's very, very hard for us to tell anybody that's coming to us, who has very little trust in everything that's been going on to date, to go into this because we don't know anything about it. We haven't been told.” 

There were “a lot of people out there who have suffered for a very, very long time,” she said.

The Women of Honour group wanted to know what was going to happen in the statutory inquiry into historical issues.

“None of this is new. You know, we've been saying it for a long time. Lots of people have. Why? Why now? What's different now?” 

The Tánaiste’s proposal to set up an independent oversight group to ensure the culture within the Defence Forces changes was “more of the same” from the perspective of the Women of Honour group.

Garda Commisioner Drew Harris encouraged Defence Force members who have a complaint to contact their local Garda station. File Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

“Again, no communication, no collaboration. We knew nothing about this. Like this is all before a statutory inquiry is settled. The issue was very straightforward here - what happened in the past?

"There needs to be a widespread investigation. Figure out what happened, who knew what, what did they do? What did they not do, and root them out.

"And only then when the people who may still be in there who had any hand or dealing in this, they need to be removed so that we can then get on with designing and implementing solutions. Anything other than that is just not going to get answers.” Ms Byrne said this was all more of the same. 

“It's very, very hard to have trust in this. There's one chance to fix this issue going forward.

"And what we need is something very different to what's ever been done before to get some sort of real restorative change in this country.

“The one thing that we've never had with our troubled history is a chance to heal and move forward.

"And unless we can do this in an open and honest and transparent way, where anybody who had any involvement has to account for their actions, we're not moving forward from this time.”

Gardaí had received reports about alleged abuse prior to the report’s publication

A damning report was recently published which uncovered shocking allegations of bullying, sexual abuse, and discrimination within the Defence Forces.

An independent review group’s (IRG) report found a “discernible pattern of rape and sexual assault” within the Defence Forces. Some 88% of female respondents to an IRG survey said they experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment, compared with 17% of male respondents.

Mr Harris said that gardaí had received reports from Defence Force members about alleged abuse prior to the report’s publication and prior to the documentary Women of Honour, which also highlighted abuse in the forces.

“We had received reports dating right back to the early 60s. So there have been a number of reports received that we’ve investigated.” He said that gardaí have searched records to look for reports of abuse in the Defence Forces and to “make sure that they were properly investigated.” Gardaí 'stand ready'

Gardaí at both national and divisional level “stand ready” to take and investigate complaints, he said.

The Protective Services Bureau will collate and coordinate the operation at a national level, led by the chief superintendent in charge at that bureau, Mr Harris said. And at the divisional level, the protective services units would deal with divisional reports.

"A member or ex-member of the Defence Forces who has a complaint to make can go to any division and we encourage them to do so.

Historically, there are 26 complaints at the moment. We would expect to receive more complaints and I would hope people feel encouraged to come forward and make complaints.

“If you go to the local garda station you will be put in touch with the specialist officers who deal with this. We view ourselves as being competent in investigating criminal complaints of serious sexual assault and we will be taking those forward. We have our protective service units, they are experienced and qualified investigators and we stand ready to take complaints.

“And we would encourage individuals who do wish to make a complaint to come forward to any Garda division and their complaint will be dealt with in confidence and reported to the DPP."

“We have the necessary skills in each of our divisions to deal with such complaints but we want to have national oversight in terms of progress of those investigations but also sharing information.

“We have to take into account that victims may have been victimised, attacked on a number of occasions.

"So there is a need for national coordination in terms of addressing this issue."

Gardaí had been in contact with military authorities prior to the IRG report, he said.