Varadkar on abuse in Defence Forces: 'I think all of us were aware of it'

Mr Varadkar said he has “confidence” in Lt Gen Clancy to lead the change that is required in the force following the independent review group’s findings. Picture: Damien Storan.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has raised questions around how the chief of staff of the Defence Forces can say he was not aware of previous allegations of bullying and sexual misconduct in the organisation.

Lieutenant General Seán Clancy said he was completely unaware of abuse and sexual assaults against members during his almost 40-year career.

He said it has only been through talking to serving members in the last 12 months as chief of staff that he has become aware of the extent of bullying and sexual assault allegations.

Mr Varadkar said he has “confidence” in Lt Gen Clancy to lead the change that is required in the force following the independent review group’s findings.

However, Mr Varadkar said issues around bullying and harassment, including of a sexual nature have been documented on a number of occasions in the past 20 years.

He added “so I think all of us were aware of it, in that sense.” Mr Varadkar has in recent years served as Minister for Defence as well as Fine Gael TD Paul Kehoe and Minister Simon Coveney.

He said while serving as minister, to his recollection, he would not have personally directly received any reports other than what was published already.

Lieutenant General Seán Clancy. Picture: Collins

The Taoiseach said: “It is the case that really everyone would have been aware of allegations around harassment and bullying and sexual offences in the Defence Forces because the Women of Honour, for example, went public.” 

He also said there was previous report and “correct allegations” by Senator Tom Clonan who first exposed rapes and sexual assaults in the Defence Forces more than 23 years ago.

"And we sought to deal with that, by the way, so it's not the case that nothing was ever done," Mr Varadkar told reporters in Wicklow this morning.

“The reason why we have this report that was published this week is because Minister [Simon] Coveney as Minister of Defence decided that there was a problem and we needed to look into it and do something about it.

“So you know, I think it would be true to say that anyone who's been following this issue or issues in Defence Forces over the past 20 years, would have been aware that were allegations and cases of harassment and bullying including of a sexual nature but they haven't been dealt with properly.

“The response so far has failed. And that's the truth and we all need to face up to that and, and change things.”