REPORT DUE
Defence Forces rocked by bullying claims as half of cases taken to ombudsman
ALMOST half of all allegations of bullying made by soldiers in the Defence Forces are taken to the Ombudsman, the Irish Sun can reveal.
It comes as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed that the Women of Honour report into allegations of abuse within the Defence Forces will be published in the coming weeks.
A shocking Women of Honour documentary released in 2021 exposed horrific details of sexual assault, bullying sexism and even rape within the Irish Defence Forces.
The claims rocked the Defence Forces with the former Defence Minister Simon Coveney ordering an independent investigation into the claims.
The report by the independent team has been sitting with the current Defence Minister Micheal Martin for a number of weeks as the Government consider legal advice about some of the revelations made in the final report.
Speaking in Washington, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he wants to see the report published as soon as possible.
Asked if the report will go to Cabinet next week, he said: “I am expecting the Women of Honour report to go to Cabinet in the next few weeks. It’s currently with the Tanaiste and I think the Attorney General has examined it too.
“So I don’t know for sure the exact timing yet we don’t have the agenda yet for the Cabinet meeting next week but I think it will be soon.
“And I know that the Women of Honour and the Defence Forces and all the people concerned are keen that that should be done and it’s certainly what I want to see happen is the report to be published as soon as possible but it does need to be legally proofed before that’s done for obvious reason.”
The Irish Sun understands that the report will be going to Cabinet before the end of March with some Government sources concerned about the contents of the report.
CRITICAL REPORT
The Irish Sun can today reveal that 21 reports of bullying have been flagged with Defence Forces officials over the past five years.
However, half of these complaints were progressed to the Ombudsman after soldiers were unhappy with the outcome of the internal process.
Five official complaints of bullying lodged with the Defence Forces Grievance Management Office last year and six reports of bullying in 2021 – the year the Women of Honour documentary was published.
Just two complaints of bullying were made by soldiers in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic with four complaints in both 2019 and 2018.
However, figures provided to the Irish Sun show that ten of these reports of bullying were later referred on to the Ombudsman for the Defence Forces.
The Ombudsman carries out independent reviews of complaints made by soldiers within the Defence Forces.
OMBUDSMAN REFERRALS
Complaints must be flagged with the Ombudsman with 12 months of the incident.
Soldiers first use the internal dispute process within the Defence Forces to address complaints before progressing on to the Ombudsman.
Some 10 cases of bullying have been referred to the Ombudsman in the past five years.
Figures provided by the Ombudsman to the Irish Sun show they investigated five complaints of bullying last year, three in 2021 and one in 2020.
The Ombudsman has also received a complaint of bullying in 2023.
In a statement to the Irish Sun, the office of the Ombudsman said that cases of bullying have been few in number but have been increasing year on year recently.