Women of Honour want Department of Defence and ministers to be included in probe

Yvonne O Rourke of Women Of Honour said the group’s aim was 'about changing a system that is really toxic'. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Both the Department of Defence and its former ministers must be included in the statutory investigation into systemic failures in the Defence Forces’ complaints procedures, according to a member of the Women of Honour group.

The investigation which is to be established was included in a list of recommendations made by the independent review group set up to examine gender-based violence, harassment and bullying in the Defence Forces. 

The review group was set up after a group of current and former female members came forward as the Women of Honour last year to highlight gender-based violence, harassment and abuse in the Defence Forces.

One of the women, former Air Corps captain Yvonne O’Rourke, told the Irish Examiner: “The inquiry has to be a complete investigation not only of the Defence Forces but also of the Department of Defence, up to and including ministers.” 

She was speaking ahead of a meeting between the Women of Honour and Tánaiste Micheal Martin at Government Buildings on Tuesday.

She said she made a protected disclosure in 2017 that “I was sexually abused, that I was discriminated against and that there was bullying in the Defence Forces”.

She said her protected disclosure remained on a shelf until she and the other members of the Women of Honour group went public.

“If we don’t get the right terms of reference now for this statutory inquiry, it is going to be a disaster," she said. "We need a complete investigation and everyone who needs to be called in to be called in. We are talking about even retired officers.” 

Toxic system

She said the group’s aim was “about changing a system that is really toxic”.

“We are really trying to get a blueprint — something that every organisation can use thereafter.” 

In the report published in March by the independent review group, 88% of female respondents in a survey reported they had experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment, compared with 17% of male respondents. 

The report found the main perpetrators of misogynistic behaviour were male officers or senior NCOs. However, it also found such behaviour also came from male peers and sometimes female officers/senior NCOs.

In late 2020, the Workplace Relations Commission ordered the minister for defence to pay €117,814 in compensation to Ms O’Rourke.

The order was made after a finding that she was a victim of gender discrimination arising from “an unacceptable systematic failure” in the Defence Forces.

She said she had been discriminated against on the ground of her gender, by having had two maternity leave absences from work treated as the equivalent to the sick absence of a male officer, resulting in her having a poor performance rating.