Senior Defence Forces member cannot say 'without equivocation' it is a safe place for women

Review group found the Defence Forces had 'long-standing issues around unacceptable behaviours', and 'a complaints handling system that was not fit for purpose'.

A leading member of the Defence Forces oversight body has admitted she cannot “without equivocation” say the Defence Forces is a safe place for women to be in.

Patricia King also said there were still “building blocks” that needed to be put in place “to make it a safer workplace than it currently is”.

Ms King, the chair of the External Oversight Body of the Defence Forces, was speaking at the Oireachtas Defence Committee.

She was asked by Senator Tom Clonan if the Defence Forces was a safe environment for young women.

She replied: “That is a very full question, and we need to get to a place where, again, without equivocation, the answer to that can be yes.

“The body has to go through such intense work with the Defence Forces to get to a place where we can say beyond any reasonable doubt that there is no question about the safety in the workplace.

We do not want people going into a workplace where there is the possibility of assault, of sexual assault, of bullying, of sexual harassment, any of those. We need to get to a place where it is, by far and away, a rarity, rather than a continuation of numbers.

Mr Clonan asked "as of today, is it a safe place for young women?", to which Ms King replied it was "becoming safer".

“The issues we're putting in place, like the independent grievance procedure, will be another milestone in relation to putting the building blocks in place to make it a safer workplace than it currently is.

“There will be a lot of people who will be cross and angry, because that's a position we've taken. We have to just let that noise go away.

“We have to keep focused on what it is we're doing, and the mission is to put all the blocks in place so that this is the safest workplace that it can be.” 

The External Oversight Body of the Defence Forces was set up in 2024 to oversee the implementation of various recommendations of the Report of the Independent Review Group in 2023.

The review group found the Defence Forces had "long-standing issues around unacceptable behaviours", and "a complaints handling system that was not fit for purpose".

Some 88% of female respondents in the Independent Review Group's Defence Force Perceptions and Experience Survey reported they had experienced one or more forms of sexual harassment, compared with 17% of male respondents.

The key findings in the report included the fact that bullying, harassment, discrimination and sexual harassment continue in the Defence Forces, with increased reports of sexual harassment among serving members.

Women in the Defence Forces were found to have low status, with the organisation displaying “pockets of misogyny” and a hypermasculine culture.

The working environment is not safe for men or women, and doesn’t take into account the principles of dignity, equality, mutual respect and duty of care, it said.

The report came out less than a year after it was revealed female soldiers had made almost as many sexual allegations against male colleagues in the 12 months to July 2022 as they did in the past decade.

Allegations of sexism, bullying, sexual assault and rape were raised by members of the Women of Honour group of serving and ex-serving women featured in an RTÉ documentary in 2021.