Women of Honour call for changes to Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry
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The Women of Honour have called for amendments to the terms of reference of the Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry into the army’s complaints system.
They want the remit of the tribunal — formally launched last Monday — to include crimes perpetrated by Defence Forces personnel.
The request follows a Defence Forces audit which found there are 68 serving soldiers who have been convicted or are facing charges in relation to a range of criminal offences, including drink-driving, drugs offences and sexual offences.
The audit was initiated after Cathal Crotty, a serving soldier, was given a suspended sentence over his vicious assault on Natasha O’Brien.
He beat her unconscious in a random street attack on May 29, 2022, and even boasted about it shortly afterwards on social media.
Honor Murphy, of the Women of Honour, said: “It is a reflection of the extent of the still-current cultural cancer in the Defence Forces that members continue to serve who are either convicted or charged with criminal offences.
“What requires to be immediately clarified by the Defence Forces is the true number of Defence Forces personnel with convictions and what is the breakdown of these convictions.
“The ongoing revelations confirm a view we have long held that the same rotten culture of concealment, as applied for so long in the religious world, is still alive in the Defence Forces.”
The Taoiseach Simon Harris has said it was “utterly unacceptable” that serving soldiers with convictions for gender-based violence could be allowed to “hide” in the Defence Forces.