Soldier tells Defence Forces Tribunal: 'There will always be a fear of coming forward'

Asked if life in the Defence Forces had improved in recent years, Mr S said that while 'in some ways it has', he felt the changes were 'just skin deep', adding that issues around bullying 'haven’t changed'. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

A serving soldier who tried to tell a senior officer he was sexually assaulted claims the officer just “backed away” from him and the allegation was never followed up, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

The alleged incident happened in the past “two to three years” and, according to the soldier, followed a 30-minute talk about “how to talk to women and all that stuff” and the Defence Forces’ complaints process.

Addressing the tribunal from behind a screen on Friday, Mr S said he told an officer after the “toolbox talk” that he had been sexually abused, but that the officer backed away from him.

Later, under questioning, he added: “I told him I was assaulted. I don’t know if I used the words ‘sexual assault’.

“But he just said ‘I hope everything is alright’ and ‘everything will get better’.” 

The man said he was only speaking to the tribunal because “if more people speak up about any sort of bullying, then the job would be a better place”.

Asked if life in the Defence Forces had improved in recent years, Mr S said that while “in some ways it has”, he felt the changes were “just skin deep”, adding that issues around bullying “haven’t changed”.

As a result, he said: “There will always be a fear of coming forward.

“The walls of wars.” 

He described the Defence Forces' efforts at reform and to improve how personnel are treated as little more than “a box-ticking exercise”.

He said: “Since the tribunal came up, a lot of stuff was rushed out, so the Defence Forces could cover themselves.

“Morale is at an all-time low.

“This (the tribunal) will just be another box-ticking exercise."

Mr S said recent surveys regarding what life is like in the Defence Forces, which have following the independent report in March 2023 that exposed widespread abuse of men and women in the Defence Forces, are not accurate.

He said the only people really filling out those surveys are “those sitting in offices looking out the window”.

He said: “The (ordinary soldiers) won’t answer surveys, that’s how much distrust there is in the job.” 

'It was like it was normal to him'

He told the tribunal the sexual assault occurred when a senior officer offered to help treat a strain he had suffered while playing soccer with other peacekeepers during a Unifil posting abroad when he was aged 20. He said the officer began giving him a sports massage that went further, leaving him frozen in shock.

He said the abuser, who "went on to have a successful career", was calm and composed as he told him:: "That’s all your stress gone, if you need more help, come back to me."

Mr S said: “It was like it was normal to him.” 

Of the impact on the sexual assault, Mr S said he started drinking heavily, and that all his interest in his career “just went”.

He didn’t make a formal complaint, explaining: “It’s hard to believe it actually happened, I knew nothing would happen and it would just be me or him and it would cost me my job.” 

Mr S said he had seen others complain in the past and end up being called “a rat”.

“It broke my trust in the job,” he added.

He also told the tribunal that while he accepted “people need to be broken down and then built up” so they could perform in war zones, there was “lots of verbal and physical abuse”.

He said these included soldiers being placed in “torture positions”, adding: “It was not very nice, but you didn’t know any better."

“It was very hard mentally and physically, it broke a lot of people and it went too far sometimes.” 

Mr S said training standards are declining and, when asked by Ms Justice Ann Power to explain “beasting”, described being put in stress positions, hit, shouted at, and forced to overexert “just for punishment”.

“Beasting is what it is,” he said. “It is part and parcel of the job.”

Mr S told the tribunal his family had warned him not to take part. The judge asked him if he was aware the Defence Forces chief of staff has made a statement on the tribunal website which states no serving soldier will suffer any repercussions for giving evidence.

Mr S replied: “It’s not worth the paper it is written on. If (the army) wants to do anything to you, there are a million ways it can happen.

“It could just be spreading rumours and you being tarnished as ‘a rat’.” 

He added: “It’s very easy for overseas (tours of duty) not to be recommended.”