Former Defence Forces Ombudsman says she struggles to sleep over sex abuse in military

Former Ombudsman for the Defence Forces Paulyn Marrinan-Quinn.

The former Defence Forces Ombudsman has said she finds it hard to sleep at night thinking there were people being sexually abused in the country's military during her seven-year tenure, yet she didn’t receive one complaint about it.

Paulyn Marrinan-Quinn SC was the first person to be appointed to the role of Defence Forces Ombudsman in 2005 and remained in that office until 2012.

“I feel absolutely awful that people didn’t feel free to come forward and I would urge them (victims of abuse) to do it now and don’t suffer in silence,” she said.

Ms Marrinan-Quinn said the extent of the “atrocities” revealed by the Women of Honour RTÉ programme and the subsequent IRG (Independent Review Group) findings “were very shocking". 

The senior counsel, who was appointed to the ombudsman role by then President Mary McAleese, said during her time in that office she received complaints from members of the Defence Forces alleging that they were being bullied, but never got one complaint of a sexual nature. Neither did she get any reports of men being sexually abused.

“If you are working in the armed forces you work as one and to step outside (of that) and make a complaint must be very difficult in a command structure,” she said.

She added she was made aware by experts there was likely to have been an under-reporting of harassment and abuse and this is likely to be because victims feared making a complaint about such incidents could leave them “exposed” and later subject to some kind of “retaliation". 

“I baulk at the thought that any of that badness was happening in my time in office,” she added.

What's your view on this issue?

You can tell us here

Ms Marrinan-Quinn said that when the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces position was created it was seen as a best-in-class model by several other countries who went on to copy it.

However, she pointed out that when she took up the role "cases came quickly" but resources (given to her) came slowly."

She said a system of more vigilant monitoring is now needed with regular reviews on its workings to ensure dignity in the workplace for all.

She was a guest speaker at the annual PDForra conference. PDForra president Mark Keane thanked her for what she had done to right wrongs in the Defence Forces. "We owe you a great debt," he said.

This article was edited on 13 May 2023 to correct an error.