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THE CHAIR OF an oversight body for the Irish military has criticised the organisation because of an increase in workplace incidents but the general in charge has said the Defence Forces is a “safe workplace”.
Earlier today the independent External Oversight Body (EOB), which monitors the human resources conditions in the army, navy and air corps met publicly for the first time.
The EOB was set up after a series of scandals in which military personnel were accused of bullying, harassment and sexual assaults.
The report by the Independent Review Group (IRG), published in 2023, made a series of recommendations including an oversight body and removing management of complaints from military officers.
Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy appeared with a number of his officers to answer questions from the board.
In an exchange with the General chairwoman of the EOB Patricia King raised concerns about the numbers of complaints currently being examined.
She also spoke about the results of a recent survey of military personnel in which 24% of respondents said they had witnessed or were subject to “inappropriate behaviour”. She also said that 78% of people who completed the study said they would not report wrongdoing.
She added that statistics on unacceptable behaviours are increasing rather than decreasing. The inappropriate behaviours, she said, included assault, physical assault and sexual assault.
“If you look down that list in a workplace, that’s just highly unacceptable for anyone who has to go to work and have the risk of that behavior being exposed,” she said.
She added: “One of the points the internal review group made was they did not regard it as a safe workplace.
“Is it a safe workplace if you have 53 of complaints being looked in to?”
In response Rossa Mulcahy defended the Defence Forces and said “it is absolutely a safe workplace”.
King said that there needs to be a zero tolerance approach.
Mulcahy said that all members of the Forces must be accountable for their actions and added that the reason for the increase in complaints was because members were becoming more comfortable with the procedure.
“Since July 2024, 40 members of the Defence Forces have been discharged as a result of inappropriate behaviour or criminal activity that shows zero tolerance in action,” he added.
Patricia King said that the complaints were “not small stuff” and added that personnel who commit the acts must be removed from the military.
Other issues discussed at the meeting included issues around the level of female participation in the Defence Forces. It said that it was important to move beyond the current level of 8% female members.
It was said that there is a need to get closer to the target of 35%. The committee voiced concerns that there should be more robust measures taken to achieve that goal.
Mulcahy said that he was committed to increasing it to give “more diversity of thought” but he explained that “there isn’t a military in the world with 35% females”. He added that it was his target to achieve the recommendation.
The Chief of Staff added that he is bound by employment law not to discriminate in favour of female applicants.
There were also discussions on the need for greater civilianisation of roles in the military.
The Women of Honour (WoH) are number of female Defence Forces members who acted as whistleblowers in regard to their own treatment over bullying and sexual harassment in their military lives.
When the Board was established a statement from the Women of Honour criticised the fact that the Secretary General of the Department of Defence Jacqui McCrum was on the EOB and they said that it was a conflict of interest.
Members of the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers attended the meeting yesterday.
In a statement issued to the press following the event RACO General Secretary Lt Col Conor King attacked the effectiveness of the committee and echoed criticisms of its independence.
“We continue to have significant reservations regarding the composition of the oversight body, which has excluded employee voice which was once seen as an integral part of oversight, while retaining the employer, the department of Defence. The body cannot claim to be truly independent in this manner” he said.
RACO President Lt Colonel Martin Ryan said that he supported the need for accountability by the EOB but criticised the Department of Defence and the exclusion of the representative bodies from the board.
“It is simply not realistic or credible to consistently blame the DF for everything and not even reference the employers. This would not happen if the DF representative associations had not been excluded from the Body,” he said.
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