Defence Forces colonel denies apprentices were 'terrified' at training school

The tribunal heard there was a 'misconception' among apprentices that they would be regarded as troublemakers if they complained. File picture

A senior officer has told the Defence Forces tribunal that he was surprised to hear apprentices would have been too “terrified” to complain about conditions in the apprentice school.

The Defence Forces Apprentice School was like a “family”, Colonel Fred O’Donovan told Friday's hearing.

The veteran of missions in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chad, Kosovo and Brussels was responding to questions from the tribunal judge Ms Justice Ann Power.

“It depends on the context but I would be surprised if it happened in my time," Mr O'Donovan said of the school, which closed in 1998. “Not everyone is perfect but we do do our best.” 

Earlier, Ms Power had also questioned Mr O’Donovan — who trained recruits at the school between 1995 and 1998 — about his statement that apprentices could “confront the person causing harm” to them.

On a previous day, it had emerged that a teenage Defence Forces apprentice’s death in 1991 at Devoy Barracks in Co Kildare was regarded as suicide within his platoon. As well as investigating his death, the Defence Forces had also investigated a complaint Oliver Mullaney had been mistreated by a superior officer just days before he died.

The bombshell revelation by Colonel Damien Coakley was the first time it has ever been made public that there were two Defence Forces investigations into Mr Mullaney’s death, and that it could have been caused by anything other than an accident.

Ms Justice Power has asked Mr O'Donovan what he would tell apprentices to do if they were not happy with the way a superior officer was testing them.

To his reply that he would tell them to “confront” the superior officer, the judge asked him if that was really a realistic course of action.

He replied: “Probably not.” But he added that, in his time, “there were no real issues” and there was a good “bond” between apprentices and their senior officers.

Mr O’Donovan said: “Problems did come and you dealt with them, but it wasn’t a case that (apprentices) were afraid.” 

Although the second day of hearings was dominated by revelations concerning Mr Mullaney’s death in 1991, Mr O’Donovan expressed surprise when asked about “events” the year he died.

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Barrister Patrick Marron, representing victims of abuse on instruction from Coleman Legal, had asked him if he “would have been aware of the events of 1991”.

Col O’Donovan asked: “What are the events?” Mr Marron told him: “The death of Oliver Mullaney.” The tragedy was not discussed any further in the exchange.

Later, Fr Paschal Hanrahan, who was appointed the Defence Forces head chaplain in 2022, told the tribunal he heard there was a “misconception” among apprentices that they would be regarded as troublemakers if they complained.

“It’s anecdotal from speaking to other chaplains,” he said in his evidence. “Not everybody who was encouraged (to complain) felt they could take it to the chain of command.

“They felt it would only make matters worse for themselves.” 

He said there was “a misconception that they would be perceived as a moaner, complainer, troublemaker”.

Asked if he knew why anybody would think that way, he replied: “Not in my experience, no.” 

Also asked if he had ever heard of anybody who complained spoken of negatively by anybody in the Defence Forces, he said he hadn’t.

He dismissed the idea that revoking someone’s leave to go home would be used as a “punishment” and said instead that the apprentice school was “a family - and this is how we treated it”.

The first public hearing module of the tribunal is the latest phase of the tribunal, established in June 2024 by then Tánaiste and defence minister Micheál Martin, after a report of a review into allegations of brutal and “sadistic” abuse.

Those allegations, in the March 2023 Independent Review Group (IRG): Defence Forces Report, included the rape of both male and female soldiers.

The tribunal’s job is to investigate how complaints were handled by the Defence Forces.