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/

 

*****