DESPITE A YEAR having passed by since the establishment of the Independent Review Group into allegations of bullying and harassment in the defence forces, the Women of Honour group said today they have received no updates throughout the process and continue to await the report.

It is understood the report, which is expected to be quite damaging, will be going to the Tánaiste, who is also the Minister of Defence, within the next week.

It is understood the report will not be published until the Attorney General’s office has reviewed it and it will then go to Government over the next few weeks before publication. 

The Women of Honour group are a number of female Defence Forces members who acted as whistleblowers in regard to their own treatment of bullying and sexual harassment in their military lives. 

Their claims were detailed in a high-profile radio documentary in late 2021. 

In a statement today, the group said it is well known that group of women did not support the establishment of the review group “due to the lack of true independence and the tremendously flawed terms of reference”.  

They said the reason provided for the review group being established last year was the urgency needed in protecting those still serving in the defence forces and the need to expedite improvements.

“Unfortunately, it is evident from those still serving and still suffering that little, if anything, of value has changed and how could it, as a comprehensive examination of the issues has not yet happened.  

“Instead, all of us affected, serving or otherwise, continue to wait for a report from a process that may have been nothing more than a waste of another year which has seen no changes, no resolutions and more victims,” said the Women of Honour group.

Report’s recommendations 

When asked by The Journal last week in Lebanon about the recommendations that will be contained in the report, Micheál Martin said it is his intention to make sure that the recommendations contained in the report “are fulfilled”.

“I haven’t seen the report. So I’m not going to preempt it. But suffice to say that, I anticipate there will be recommendations in that report. I will want to read the report in its entirety, but I do intend to make sure that its recommendations are fulfilled,” he said. 

On his visit with Irish troops at Camp Shamrock in Lebanon last Thursday, Martin said that the Government “will do everything we possibly can to continue to change culture and behaviour and to make sure that a life and a career in the Defence Forces is safe, progressive and enjoyable”.

The Women of Honour group said today that the last year has achieved a renewed sense of camaraderie that stretches much further than the defence forces community.

“A stepping forward and coming together of those affected whether directly or indirectly, by the deplorable treatment inflicted on so many by the Defence Forces. Treatment inflicted by an organisation purported to be a culture ‘underpinned by the values of respect, loyalty, selflessness, physical courage, moral courage and integrity’. 

“Instead, those who actually have these characteristics are more often than not destroyed for standing up for what is right,” said the statement today.

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In advance of the report, the Women of Honour group said it wants to recognise the extraordinary efforts of those who have engaged with the independent review team over the last year, adding that it “is our hope that our shared goal of a victim-led, independent, agreed statutory process is recommended by the independent review group so we can finally move on to what really needs to be done”.  

The statement went on to wish Karina Molloy all the best in her her new book ‘A Woman in Defence’.  

Molloy, a former soldier, who suffered alleged abuse throughout her 30-year career has launched a stinging criticism of Government ministers, including Tánaiste Micheál Martin, and a senior civil servant for how they handed complaints. 

The book rounds round on senior military leadership going back to the 1980s for what she said were repeated failings to deal with her, and other women’s, complaints of abuse. 

Detailing her three decades in the Irish Defence Forces, the book also catalogues a series of alleged sexual assaults during her service.

The Women of Honour group said Molloy’s own account has taken great effort and commitment, and they hope it brings her peace. 

With reporting by Niall O’Connor