Mick Clifford: Defence Forces abuse allegations demand more than another tribunal

Allegations of rape, bullying and abuse have reignited questions over accountability, culture and oversight within the Defence Forces

This article includes direct links to some of Neil Michael's original reports from this month's tribunal, and you will find the rest of his reports collected in the — Read more about Defence Forces — link below. Picture: iStock

Nobody called the cops. There had to be knowledge that a crime may have been committed — and not just one, but multiple crimes. Yet nobody thought to pick up the phone and inform the law enforcement agency that something serious required investigation.

Over the last month, a public hearing has been taking place in Dublin examining some shocking crimes, or at least credible allegations of crimes.

These include rape and sexual abuse. 

The hearing, a Defence Forces tribunal, has heard from a succession of victims, most of whom were young men or women when subjected to personal, often sexual, violence in the Defence Forces — and absolutely nothing was done about it.

The Irish Examiner’s Neil Michael has been covering the tribunal, usually as the only reporter there from the national media. His cogent and insightful reports have included some shocking detail, of not just the evidence being heard but the constraints on what can be done about it.

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In another time, dealing with other categories of victims, this stuff would be top of the daily news agenda. Yet, for some reason, there is no outcry, no appalled reaction, no reaching out to victims. 

Here are a few details from Neil’s reports.

Humiliation 'contributed to recruit's death' 

One senior officer, who was the subject of multiple allegations and can only be identified as 2LT.B, gave evidence last week.

“The most serious allegation concerns recruit Oliver Mullaney, who died by suicide on June 22, 1991. The tribunal has heard claims that 2LT.B subjected the teenager to such humiliation during a training exercise two days earlier that it contributed to his death,” Neil wrote in the Irish Examiner.

“The officer is also accused of humiliating and assaulting another recruit in May 1991. The tribunal has heard the recruit suffered a nervous breakdown after the incident. His breakdown had come after 20 months of being allegedly bullied, assaulted, victimised and humiliated by 2LT.B.”

These were the most serious of 52 instances of mistreatment alleged to have been perpetrated by 2LT.B on apprentices in the Defence Forces over a two-year period to July 1991. 

Some of the apprentices were as young as 16.

2LT.B gave evidence, according to the report, in a confident manner and denied all the allegations. The tribunal has no powers of finding facts about allegations of brutality or abuse.

It is only charged with examining how and whether complaints were made about these alleged crimes.

Ms Y said she was gang-raped in barracks

Then there was Ms Y, who was gang-raped soon after joining the army at the age of 19.

Neil Michael wrote: “She said that after the group of three men stopped raping her in her bed in quarters at a barracks she was staying in, one of them warned: ‘If you ever say anything, you will be kicked out of the army’.

“She told the tribunal hearing: ‘I was afraid. I was only out of school. I was 19 years old and [joining the army] was all I had ever dreamed of doing.

“That they could take [my] dream away — it was a case of ‘Keep your mouth shut and you’ll keep your job’.”

When she discovered she was pregnant, she said she was “devastated”. She terminated the pregnancy and continued in the army where she had a long and distinguished career. She gave her testimony from behind a screen.

Male witness's sexual abuse allegation brushed off 

Another male witness told of revealing to an officer in recent years that he had been sexually abused in the force. The response was to ask was he alright and effectively brush off the revelation. Nobody wanted to know.

In some ways, the last allegation is the most serious. It implies that a culture still exists whereby the first instinct is to look the other way.

“He was quite scathing towards the Defence Forces,” Neil Michael told me in a recent podcast of that particular soldier’s evidence.

“He said a lot of issues around bullying haven’t changed and any changes brought in are just skin deep — and remember this is a serving member.

“And he said that this tribunal will just be another box-ticking exercise.”

There have been whistleblowers from the ranks of the Defence Forces who have highlighted these issues.

Twenty five years ago, now Senator Tom Clonan, who was then a member of the Defence Forces, produced a research paper into the abuses.

In 2021, RTÉ’s Katie Hannon produced the Women of Honour documentary about abuses of female members. Yet, as the evidence tumbling from the tribunal suggests, there has been little or no real change.

What emerges is a picture in which the culture within the ranks appears to retain mores, customs, and — crucially — a sense of omerta that most parts of society have long consigned to history.

Failings in a different Defence Forces case

An entirely separate case reported by the Irish Examiner earlier this year highlights another aspect of the force lifted from the past. 

Commandant Alan Kearney was subjected to having 12 criminal charges held over him for two years before they were dropped at the last minute. 

The injustice endured by former Commandant Alan Kearney was recognised by the Defence Forces Ombudsman — but the constraints of the ombudsman’s office means he has very little power to intervene. 

The investigation into Mr Kearney was at times farcical, even though it had a devastating impact on him and his family. He had a meteoric rise through the ranks as a non-commissioned officer, and was earmarked for a prestigious job as captain of the guard in the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Then, as a result of being in contact with a former member, who had left to join An Garda Síochána and had made a protected disclosure about malpractice in that organisation, Mr Kearney’s career was ultimately shattered. 

He left, and the force lost a human asset. 

What was instructive about his case was that the injustice was recognised by the Defence Forces Ombudsman to whom Mr Kearney had appealed. Ombudsman Alan Mahon wrote to the defence minister and the chief of staff about what he had observed. 

Yet the constraints of the ombudsman’s office means he or she has very little power to intervene.

Former army Commandant Alan Kearney was subjected to having 12 criminal charges held over him for two years before they were dropped at the last minute. File picture

Mr Kearney made this point to the Irish Examiner earlier this year. 

He said: "In my case there was clear documentary evidence of investigative failings. 

“Yet no independent body was permitted to examine them. That would be unthinkable in civilian policing. And it is happening at the very moment the Defence Forces are assuring the public they have changed. 

An organisation asking people to join, while insulating its senior officers from scrutiny, sends a message — whether intended or not — about who accountability applies to.”

All the indications are that such accountability is still outstanding. Any organisation functioning on such a basis, particularly today, is doomed to fall short of expected standards. And in such a milieu, all that is left is waiting for the next scandal to drop.