Women of Honour want Department of Defence off oversight board

Members of the Women of Honour group Diane Byrne, Yvonne O'Rourke, Honor Murphy, and Roslyn O'Callaghan arrive for a meeting with Tánaiste Micheál Martin at Government Buildings last Tuesday. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

The Women of Honour group want any appointees to the Oversight Board for the Defence Forces made by the Tánaiste to first be vetted for “appropriateness” by the Oireachtas defence committee.

The group also says it does not want the secretary general of the Department of Defence, Jacqui McCrum, to be a member of the Oversight Board.

The group met with the Tánaiste and minister for defence, Mícheál Martin, on Tuesday. 

Afterwards, it expressed disappointment that the group or victims were not consulted prior to the drafting of the terms of reference for a statutory inquiry into abuse within the Defence Forces.

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The inquiry is to be held on foot of the recently-published report by the Independent Review Group which detailed widespread bullying, intimidation, and abuse within the Defence Forces. The Oversight Board is also being set up as a result of the report which was published in March.

Now, the Women of Honour group has said that they received no satisfactory answers from the Tánaiste during Tuesday’s meeting.

The Women Of Honour group on their way to Government Buildings ahead of the publication of a report into sexual harassment and bullying in the Deferce Forces. Picture: Leon Farrell/RollingNews.ie

In a statement on Friday, the group said that the Independent Review Group’s remit was narrow, failing to examine the Department of Defence.

Referring to the meeting with the Tánaiste, the statement continued: “He indicated that the role of the secretary general would be administrative, but surely for the sake of transparency and to engender confidence, alternatives outside of the Department of Defence would be more appropriate. 

"We remain of a view that the secretary general of the Department of Defence should not be a member of the Oversight Board, as it is a potential and serious conflict that needs to be vetted. 

In fact, all the members of the Oversight Board should be vetted to see how they managed bullying and other abuses rampant in the Defence Forces in their own leadership roles.” 

It added: “After Tuesday’s meeting, we remain concerned that the Tánaiste cannot separate himself from the role of minister for defence. We will be raising this with the Taoiseach when we see him shortly, following contact from his office.” 

The group says that a statutory oversight body should only be set up after a statutory public inquiry.