Former army apprentice tells tribunal he was forced to eat cigarette butts by officer

The alleged behaviour of 2LTB was considered at length by the tribunal, which is currently meeting in public to investigate the complaints processes within the Defence Forces, and whether their possible ineffectiveness enabled a culture of silence on complaints of abuse. File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

A former army apprentice broke down as he recalled being forced to eat cigarette butts by an officer, and how he saw one of his fellow cadets crying in his bed before he later took his own life.

Padraic Lenaghan, a former radio technician cadet at the Army Apprentice School at Devoy Barracks in Naas, told  the Defence Forces Tribunal how the unnamed second lieutenant — known as 2LTB — swore in his face and ordered him to eat used cigarette butts from an ashtray after discovering a card game in progress at the apprentices’ dormitory in November 1989.