Courts martial 'designed to make problems go away' and avoid scandal

It remains to be seen if faith among the Defence Forces in the court martial system can be restored. But one of the aims of a forthcoming bill is to ensure that gardaí, and not the military, will have sole jurisdiction within the state to investigate alleged sexual offences committed by those subject to military law, writes Mick Clifford

Retired army Captain Diane Byrne says the courts martial are "a boys' club and you have to be one of the boys". Photo: Damien Storan/PA

When Diane Byrne was assaulted on duty she had a choice. The captain in the Air Corps was cleaning up the mess hall following a social event when a male colleague pinned her to a wall. 

“We were on duty. There was no alcohol or anything like that involved,” she says. “I managed to get away from him, but what was I to do afterwards?” Her choices were to pursue the matter, which would quite possibly culminate in her colleague’s court martial. Or she could just do nothing, because pursuing the matter would be more trouble than it was worth.