‘Deeply concerning’: Defence Forces covering legal costs of accused officers at tribunal

The Women of Honour abuse survivor group has described as “deeply concerning” an assurance given by the Defence Forces that the legal costs of officers accused of wrongdoing would be covered.

The Irish Examiner has been shown a letter in which the Defence Forces assured the Association of Retired Commissioned Officers that their members would receive legal support if they had to appear before the Defence Forces Tribunal.

The assurance was given before any of the officers had even been notified by the tribunal legal team that they would be required to be witnesses.

The promise of support was made in October 2024 by then Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Sean Clancy, in response to questions around what support would be available to former officers likely to be called as witnesses.

The officers are understood to have included a number also referenced anonymously in the Independent Review Group Report of 2023, which detailed allegations of brutal and “sadistic” abuse of soldiers and included allegations of the rape of both male and female soldiers.

Diane Byrne, of the Women of Honour, said it is a concern that while their legal costs are so far not being covered on a regular basis, those of officers accused of abusing soldiers appear to have been covered.

She said: “The approach to funding and legal support continues to be deeply concerning. Institutions, senior figures, and even possible perpetrators have ongoing legal support publicly funded in real time.

“However, victims have no day-to-day funding or paid legal representation and are having to fight for a fair process. Any reimbursement that comes later does not address the reality that the work of engaging with the tribunal is happening now.

“Instead of focusing on recounting their experiences and assisting the tribunal to establish the truth, Women of Honour are having to focus on fair and equitable participation.”

Gavin Tobin, of the Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors, said: “There is complete inequality of arms at the tribunal. Perpetrators’ legal costs are looked after, the victims’ costs aren’t. That is not fair.”

Read full article by Neil Michael on the Irish Examiner website below.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41872104.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal: Training session ‘a day of horror… like being in Full Metal Jacket’, soldier says

Tribunal told recruits were constantly ordered to go on runs and do press-ups for hours on end while being shouted at and berated.

A training session two days before an army apprentice killed himself was “a day of horror” akin to the harrowing scenes of the infamous Full Metal Jacket movie by Stanley Kubrick, the Defence Forces Tribunal into historical claims of abuse has heard.

Eddie Gibbons, who was just 17 when he joined the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks in Naas, in October 1989, said it was so surreal it resembled a scene from the Vietnam war movie.

The 1987 film is remembered for the performance of R Lee Ermey as the sadistic Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, who breaks US Marine Corps recruits with his relentless bullying and abuse.

Mr Gibbons said recruits were constantly ordered to go on runs and do press-ups for hours on end while being shouted at and berated.

The tribunal has already heard that, towards the end of that training session on June 20, 1991, apprentice Oliver Mullaney was ordered to sing nursery rhymes, dance with, and kiss other male recruits.

Mr Mullaney was just 20 months into his apprenticeship in the Defence Forces and was training to be a motor mechanic when he died on the evening of June 22, 1991.

Read full article by Neil Michael on the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41871630

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‘We were tortured’: ex-soldier on Army Apprentice School

The Defence Forces Tribunal could lead to a Garda investigation into historic child abuse, it has emerged.

A former soldier has told a tribunal that he “walked into hell” when he joined the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks, Naas in Co Kildare, almost 40 years ago due to the level of verbal, mental and physical abuse he suffered.

Former apprentice, Denis Kennedy, outlined to the Defence Forces Tribunal a catalogue of alleged abuse which he suffered at the hands of his platoon commander, an officer identified only as 2LTB for legal reasons.

The tribunal is examining how the Defence Forces handled complaints of abuse between 1983 and 2024.

Mr Kennedy, who comes from Templemore in Co Tipperary, pointed out how half of his platoon were just 16 years old when he joined the Defence Forces in 1989.

“We weren’t trained. We were tortured,” said Mr Kennedy.

“We weren’t men. We were kids,” he added.

As his brother had joined the Defence Forces five years earlier, Mr Kennedy said he expected to get good training in what would be “tough but fair” conditions.

“It was not the case. I walked into hell,” he observed.

Asked about the death of another apprentice, Oliver Mullaney, by suicide in Devoy Barracks in June 1991 two days after he was subjected to verbal abuse and mockery by one or more senior officers, Mr Kennedy said it still affected him to the present day.

“It was just devastating,” he said.

Mr Kennedy claimed apprentices were told by a senior officer not to mention Mr Mullaney had died by suicide because it would impact the ability of his family to claim insurance.

The apprentice’s death at the time was reported as accidental.

‘Like a penal colony’

Another former soldier, Brian Abernethy, said the toxic conditions in the Army Apprentice School were “an excuse for a narcissistic thug to do what he wanted”.

Mr Abernethy said apprentices were treated “as if we had shot somebody”.

The safety manager, who comes originally from Kilworth in Co Cork, said the atmosphere in Devoy Barracks was in “a constant state of flux”.

He acknowledged he had brought some punishments on himself but said that once anyone got in trouble that “you’re absolutely a target”.

The tribunal heard how he estimated he had spent six months of his three years in Naas being confined to the barracks.

Mr Abernethy said recruits were treated like second-class citizens and “it felt more like a penal colony than it did a training facility”.

The witness said he was an emotional wreck after discovering 2Lt B, who was just a few years older, had ordered other members of his platoon to “sort me out”.

Mr Abernethy said he was worried he would be grabbed in the middle of the night, although he now knew that his colleagues were never going to attack him.

Read full article on the RTE news website below.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2026/0625/1580353-defence-forces-tribunal/

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Tribunal may trigger Garda probe into historic child abuse claims

The Defence Forces Tribunal could lead to a Garda investigation into historic child abuse, it has emerged.

Denis “Max” Kennedy, on their way in to give evidence at the Defence Forces Tribunal. Picture: Neil Michael.

The tribunal heard that Tusla, the child and family agency, has recommended that assaults and abuse allegedly carried out by officers should be reported to gardaí.

Ms Justice Ann Power, the sole member of the tribunal, was told by Denis Kennedy they had been instructed to inform gardaí about what had happened, as it was considered “child abuse”.

Mr Kennedy, who joined aged 16 in September 1989, said he had been encouraged to contact a therapist to discuss the alleged abuse he endured at Devoy Barracks in the 1980s and 1990s.

After he gave his evidence on Thursday, he was asked whether he had ever considered making a formal complaint about his treatment.

He said his therapist had gone to Tusla, which informed her that his experience constituted “historic child abuse”.

Mr Kennedy told the judge: “She recommended it be reported to gardaí.”

After giving evidence, he told the Irish Examiner: “I am going to wait to get the tribunal out of the way.

“This is all very new and as this is what has been recommended, this is what I am now considering doing.

“But I am unlikely to be the only one.”

There were 13 16-year-olds in the 54th Platoon, 22 17-year-olds, and 20 recruits aged 18.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41868969.html

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‘I walked into hell’: Recruit tells Defence Forces Tribunal of being ‘tortured, not trained’

Recruits to the Defence Forces’ Apprentice School in the 1980s and 1990s were “tortured, not trained”, the Defence Forces Tribunal has been told.

Recalling the day he joined the 54th Platoon at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co Kildare, in September 1989 at the age of 16, Denis Kennedy said: “I walked into hell.”

He told the tribunal he witnessed a senior officer — known as 2Lt B and who cannot be named for legal reasons — assaulting him and other recruits, including kicking a fellow recruit in the ribs as he did press-ups.

He also said he saw the officer order another recruit to eat cigarettes from “the dregs of an ashtray”.

One of Mr Kennedy’s closest friends, Oliver Mullaney, died by suicide on June 22, 1991, two days after allegedly being repeatedly humiliated by 2Lt B.

Previous witnesses to the tribunal have said 2Lt B ordered Mr Mullaney to not only dance on a chair but also kiss another recruit.

Mr Kennedy said the abuse was widely known about, telling tribunal senior counsel Michael Cush that more senior officers above 2Lt B would have been aware.

“They would have been well aware,” he said.

“They were watching, they were well aware.”

Asked about the most senior rank to have known, he said it was the “commanding officer” — meaning at least a lieutenant colonel.

The tribunal later heard that the unnamed commanding officer has denied being aware of the abuse suffered by Mr Mullaney.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41868969.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal hears about officer’s ‘out-of-the-world, excessive’ abuse of recruits

An army officer alleged to have forced one recruit to eat “smoking” cigarette butts also allegedly had cigarettes forced into the ears and nostrils of another recruit, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

Gerard Guinan, General Secretary of PDFORRA, recalled an alleged incident by an officer who forced one recruit to eat ‘smoking’ cigarette butts also allegedly had cigarettes forced into the ears and nostrils of another recruit. File photo: Paul Mealey

Recruits were allegedly encouraged by the officer to laugh and photograph the incidents.

Tribunal witness Gerard Guinan, who enlisted in 1989 and joined the 34th Platoon at the Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks, recalled: “He was encouraging people to laugh and jeer. Looking back, it was Lord of the Flies.

“You were just happy it wasn’t you being laughed at.”

Mr Guinan, who is now the general security of the representative body PDFORRA, referenced this among a number of “out-of-the-world, excessive” abuse of recruits by an officer, who can only be referenced as 2Lt B.

There were so many incidents that recruits, who Mr Guinan referred to as “child soldiers” because most were aged between 16 and 18, couldn’t wait to get home at weekends.

Once, when a rumour swept through the platoon that weekend leave was to be withdrawn because one recruit had failed to “keep up on a run”, recruits ran for the front gate before it could be confirmed officially.

”We all ran for the gate, but when we got to the gate, they closed the gate,” Mr Guinan recalled.

He recalled an incident that emerged in an earlier tribunal hearing which saw recruit Padraic Lenaghan being allegedly ordered to eat cigarette buts. This was after the officer 2Lt B caught recruits smoking in their dormitory.

Mr Guinan recalled how some of the cigarettes had been half-stubbed out seconds before the officer found them in an ashtray under Mr Lenaghan’s bed and were still smoking.

Mr Guinan recalled: “2Lt B told him to take out the ashtray, which had cigarettes still smoking.

”He told him ‘take a butt out, put it in your mouth, chew it and swallow it’.

He then told him to open his mouth and he then told him to take out two more cigarettes and to swallow them.

Mr Guinan also recalled fellow apprentice Oliver Mullaney being subjected to “a lot of petty bullshit” and “really personalised abuse” two days before he killed himself.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41867724.html

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Apprentices were ‘treated like dirt’ by officer, Defence Forces Tribunal told

An army apprentice who ended his life over 35 years ago was one of more than 50 apprentices who were “treated like dirt” by a particular officer, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

Defence Forces Tribunal witness Brian Murphy arriving at the tribunal today. Picture: Neil Michael.

Oliver Mullaney was allegedly repeatedly humiliated and berated in front of other apprentices by the officer — who cannot be named for legal reasons — two days before he died on June 22, 1991.

Fellow apprentice Brian Murphy broke down in tears as he recounted the last days and hours before Mr Mullaney took his own life.

As he began, he turned to one of Mr Mullaney’s sisters in attendance at the tribunal and said: “I just want to say to Oli’s family, I am so sorry.”

After a few minutes struggling to speak, he said that on June 20, 1991, the unnamed officer — known in the tribunal as 2Lt B —had constantly “abused” apprentices.

“We were treated like we were dirt,” he recalled.

He said there was just constant “harassment” that day for everybody but Mr Mullaney had been particularly singled out by 2Lt B. He “had a particular focus on Oli, he slagged him, made various derogatory comments”. Mr Murphy recalled that 2Lt B went “constantly back to Oli”.

Mr Murphy said: “[Mr Mullaney] was extremely upset. He got into bed [that night] and started crying, he cried and he cried and he cried.”

He also recalled how Mr Mullaney then went “very quiet” over the next day and on the day he died. After the events of Thursday — which lawyers have told the tribunal that 2Lt B “vehemently denies” — “he wasn’t his normal self”.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41865945.html

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Former army apprentice tells tribunal he was forced to eat cigarette butts by officer

The alleged behaviour of 2Lt B was considered at length by the tribunal, which is currently meeting in public to investigate the complaints processes within the Defence Forces, and whether their possible ineffectiveness enabled a culture of silence on complaints of abuse

A former army apprentice broke down as he recalled being forced to eat cigarette butts by an officer, and how he saw one of his fellow cadets crying in his bed before he later took his own life.

Padraic Lenaghan, a former radio technician cadet at the Army Apprentice School at Devoy Barracks in Naas, told the Defence Forces Tribunal how the unnamed second lieutenant — known as 2Lt B — swore in his face and ordered him to eat used cigarette butts from an ashtray after discovering a card game in progress at the apprentices’ dormitory in November 1989.

Mr Lenaghan recounted to the tribunal concerted abusive behaviour — bullying, random revoking of weekend leave, and emotional abuse by 2Lt B from his induction into the school at the age of 16.

Of the cigarette incident, Mr Lenaghan recalled 2Lt B entering the dormitory and screaming at him to eat the butts.

“He said put them in your effing mouth, that’s an order. He had a wild, wild look on his face. He said ‘chew Lenaghan’. I just felt if I didn’t the whole platoon will be in so much trouble. It’s the army,” he said.

“I could feel the ashes all around my mouth on my tongue. I got some of them down. He said eat the rest of them. I was just scared like, and feeling so sick, I hid them under my tongue when he got me to open my mouth.”

He said when the officer eventually left he “went to the toilet and got sick”.

On the death of apprentice and Leitrim native Oliver Mullaney, aged 19, in 1991, Mr Lenaghan described how the platoon of 53 teenagers was made to dance after a gun-range examination one Thursday.

“They made some of them dance together. It was weird, what was the purpose,” he said. “They got on Ollie’s case, up close in his face, roaring and shouting, ‘Mullaney you’re a real old farmer, you’ll never be a soldier’.

“Ollie was a quiet country man, he wasn’t taking it well. I recall Ollie crying in his bed that night. I didn’t see him again.”

Mr Mullaney shot himself with his own weapon that weekend in the barracks. Mr Lenaghan said there had been no investigation into the incident that he was aware of, though shortly after 2Lt B left the unit.

“Everyone was 100% sure the pressure of this man 2Lt B was too much for Ollie,” he said. He said no apprentice had been willing to make a complaint at the time as “being in the army and making complaints didn’t go together for us”.

He said even if he had wanted to complain he wouldn’t have known how.

Read full article by Cianan Brennan at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41864532.html

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Former Air Corps member tells Defence Forces Tribunal of being ‘scalped’ and ‘tubbed’

Anybody who complained about anything in the Defence Forces faced losing their job, said a former member of the Air Corps who claims he was “scalped” by a senior officer.

Paul Kavanagh, giving evidence in the second week of public hearings at the Defence Forces Tribunal, said he was the victim of a number of bullying incidents — some of which, he claimed, senior officers were aware.

He claimed senior officers in the air corps knew personnel were “tubbed” – thrown into large tubs of chemicals and engine grease as a brutal form of so-called hazing, or initiation at Baldonnel Aerodrome, in Co Dublin.

He too was a victim of tubbing — where he was grabbed and thrown “head first” into a large tub filled with oil and grease and even “a dead crow”.

The practice has been referenced before by other former Air Corps.

He was asked if senior officers in the Air Corps were aware of this specific practice, and he replied: “Totally, yeah.” He added that “no action was taken”.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41859684.html

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Defence Forces colonel denies apprentices were ‘terrified’ at training school

A senior officer has told the Defence Forces tribunal that he was surprised to hear apprentices would have been too “terrified” to complain about conditions in the apprentice school.

Generic Stock Defence Forces, action, training, soldiers, Air Corps (UJuly 2020)

The Defence Forces Apprentice School was like a “family”, Colonel Fred O’Donovan told Friday’s hearing.

The veteran of missions in Lebanon, Afghanistan, Chad, Kosovo and Brussels was responding to questions from the tribunal judge Ms Justice Ann Power.

“It depends on the context but I would be surprised if it happened in my time,” Mr O’Donovan said of the school, which closed in 1998. “Not everyone is perfect but we do do our best.”

Earlier, Ms Power had also questioned Mr O’Donovan — who trained recruits at the school between 1995 and 1998 — about his statement that apprentices could “confront the person causing harm” to them.

On a previous day, it had emerged that a teenage Defence Forces apprentice’s death in 1991 at Devoy Barracks in Co Kildare was regarded as suicide within his platoon. As well as investigating his death, the Defence Forces had also investigated a complaint Oliver Mullaney had been mistreated by a superior officer just days before he died.

The bombshell revelation by Colonel Damien Coakley was the first time it had ever been made public that there were two Defence Forces investigations into Mr Mullaney’s death, and that it could have been caused by anything other than an accident.

Ms Justice Power had asked Mr O’Donovan what he would tell apprentices to do if they were not happy with the way a superior officer was testing them.

To his reply that he would tell them to “confront” the superior officer, the judge asked him if that was really a realistic course of action.

He replied: “Probably not.” But he added that, in his time, “there were no real issues” and there was a good “bond” between apprentices and their senior officers.

Read full article by Neil Michael at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41857569.html

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