Defence Forces Tribunal: Collins Barracks army chaplain told rape victim, 17, to ‘forget about it’

An army chaplain told a 17-year-old rape victim to “forget about it” and get on with his life, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.

Giving evidence behind a screen, that private — now a married man with a family — said the assault happened in Munster in 1970.

He was one of a group of privates returning back late to a camp where they had been training and a sergeant on duty asked him to step into his office.

But, under direct examination from tribunal counsel Lalita Morgan Pillay, Mr H said all he can remember was walking into a room with a desk and a mattress on the floor.

Then, he woke up as dawn was breaking about five hours later, and found he was half naked and the sergeant was on top of him. He only decided to report it in 1995.

“I had blocked it out for 25 years but my nightmares started in 1995,” he said. “I started getting flashbacks. Things were coming into my head.

“Eventually, I went to my doctor and I told him, and he advised me to go to the guards and he said he would go with me.” Despite the offer, he said he was too afraid to bring the matter to the gardaí.

But a psychiatrist treating him for mental health issues related to the rape urged him to report the matter to the Defence Forces.

“After a few days, I went up to Collins Barracks in around 1995, 1996 and the guards on the gate said they would send someone up to me. They saw my car and told me to wait in his car.

“The door opened and a chaplain got in. I said ‘I was seriously sexually assaulted and I want to make complaint’.

But he just turned to me and said ‘the best thing you can do is forget all about it and get on with your life’. He then got out of the car. He wasn’t in the car (for) a minute.

Ms Pillar asked what he had hoped would happen, he said: “They should have informed the orderly officer of the day or someone but they took it no further.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41936301.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal: Officer denies putting pressure on soldier to not make formal complaint

The Defence Forces Tribunal has heard a soldier had his status downgraded after he complained about being sexually assaulted by an army chaplain.

Captain Mark Doyle after giving evidence at the Defence Forces Tribunal. Picture: Neil Michael.

A Defence Forces officer has denied pressure was put on a soldier who suffered sexual assault to not make a formal complaint.

Captain Mark Doyle said anybody who makes a complaint to the military police is free to use any number of options open to them, including calling gardaí.

It took four working days to report the matter to gardaí. Capt Doyle, a former senior member of the military police, said legal advice had to be sought on whether the assailant was subject to military law.

“There is no pressure on complainants,” he told the Defence Forces Tribunal.

“We do not deter or pressurise (anybody).”

Sergeant Noel Brennan told the tribunal last week that Capt Doyle had entered a room abruptly, in May 2021, while he was in the course of making a formal statement.

Mr Brennan was sexually assaulted by former army chaplain Fr David Tyndall on January 16, 2015, at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin.

Mr Brennan, who has since left the Defence Forces, reported the assault later out of fear it would impact on his career.

He told the tribunal he “got a bit of a fright” when Capt Doyle walked into the room and asked him if mediation might be an option.

Mr Brennan said he didn’t want to go down that route, and said in his evidence last week that Capt Doyle’s offer was the second time he had been offered mediation.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41932626.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal: Soldier had status downgraded after complaint of sex assault by army chaplain

The Defence Forces Tribunal has heard a soldier had his status downgraded after he complained about being sexually assaulted by an army chaplain.

Fr. Dave Tyndall Photo: Óglaigh na hÉireann/Flickr

Sergeant Noel Brennan, who was sexually assaulted by Fr David Tyndall, also said he felt officers had tried to persuade him to deal with the matter through mediation rather than pursue the formal complaint he lodged in 2021.

The incident happened in 2015 but Sgt Brennan, who was applying to join a particular unit at the time, was worried it might affect his chances of being accepted.

He told the tribunal on Friday that he was also worried about the friendship Fr Tyndall said he had with his superior officers.

The former Defence Forces chaplain was convicted at Dublin District Court in 2021 of sexually assaulting his then colleague on January 16, 2015, at Cathal Brugha Barracks in Dublin.

The 58-year-old, who blamed drinking alcohol for his actions, served as a Defence Forces chaplain from 2008 to 2021 before being removed from the role over the incident.

He received a three-month suspended sentence under Section 2 of the Sex Offenders Act after he pleaded guilty to kissing and touching Sergeant Brennan.

Mr Brennan, who left the Defence Forces in 2024, told the tribunal he had gone to Fr Tyndall’s residence in Cathal Brugha Barracks for help with getting an annulment of his marriage.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41931354.html

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Defence Forces complaints process should be independent of military command, say officers

Much of the Defence Forces complaints process should be “externalised” and run by people outside the chain of military command, according to the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers.

On the second day of the Defence Forces Tribunal, RACO deputy general secretary Colonel Derek Priestley said too few officers are qualified to handle complaints within the Defence Forces.

He also said his members are frequently exasperated when ordered to investigate allegations against soldiers, regardless of their rank. “Most would want to do their best but they would express concerns that they can’t,” he said.

There are also issues around impartiality, Col Priestley said, with officers very often knowing individuals they are ordered to investigate.

In answer to questions from Ms Justice Ann Power, he admitted officers tasked with handling complaints also often just don’t have the time to investigate them — “on top of everything else”.

He said there is also “a lack of training, a lack of manpower and lack of experience” as far as the complaints process is concerned.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41930514.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal: Officer declines to answer whether ‘a good soldier’ would complain

As the Defence Forces Tribunal resumed on Wednesday, a senior officer involved in human resources declined to answer whether “a good soldier” would complain.

The question was asked by senior counsel Gareth Compton, who represents serving and former members of the Defence Forces.

The exchange led to objections from a barrister for the State.

Earlier, Colonel Daragh O’Brien was asked if it had ever occurred to him that the Defence Forces’ complaints process should be run externally.

Mr Compton told him serving and former soldiers had repeatedly testified that they have “no confidence that the current (complaints) process is confidential”.

He asked if the notion of taking the complaints process “outside the chain of command to an external body” had ever occurred to him.

The cavalry officer, who has also served in the Defence Forces transformation management office, replied: “I cannot speak to that. It’s outside my remit.”

Mr Compton said that such a move would “seem like a natural conclusion”.

Col O’Brien replied: “I cannot comment.”

Mr Compton then asked: “Would a good soldier complain?”

Col O’Brien, whose duty abroad includes tours in Lebanon, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Mali, remained silent and the barrister sat down after there were objections about his question.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41930046.html

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Tribunal to cost over €25m by next year

The Defence Forces Tribunal is expected to cost over €25m by next year.

Figures released to the Irish Examiner show administration and legal costs totalled €3.3m in 2024, including €2.8m in legal fees.

Those figures include the costs of the tribunal’s own legal team, as well as legal representation for the Defence Forces chief of staff and the defence minister.

In 2025, administration and legal costs rose to €8.26m, of which €7.7m was spent on legal fees.

Legal costs had reached €4.4m by the end of June 2026, with a further €360,000 spent on administration costs.

Those figures form part of the €7.5m allocated by the Government last October to cover the tribunal’s costs in 2026.

Costs are expected to exceed €6m in 2027.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41876054.html

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Defence Forces Tribunal special report: Why it was established, how much it cost, and what’s next

As hearings pause for summer, the inquiry has heard harrowing evidence while legal costs continue to rise.

The tribunal is a three-year inquiry into how complaints were handled in the Defence Forces from 1983 until 2024.

Its establishment in June 2024 was a recommendation of the Independent Review Group (IRG): Defence Forces Report.

Published in March 2023, that report detailed disturbing allegations which included the rape of both male and female soldiers.

Those abused include the Women of Honour, a group of serving and former members whose allegations featured in an RTÉ documentary by reporter Katie Hannon in 2021 which prompted the review in the first place.

They also include members of the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks, Naas, Co Kildare, and air corps personnel exposed to toxic chemicals without being provided with adequate PPE.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41876054.html

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Officer breaks down as he tells Defence Forces Tribunal soldier’s suicide ‘still affects me to this day’

A non-commissioned officer broke down at the Defence Forces Tribunal as he recalled seeing the body of Oliver Mullaney after he died by suicide.

David Henry, a former acting company sergeant in the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks, said what he saw affects him “to this day”.

Mr Henry, who retired from the army in 1998, also told the tribunal that he was “ashamed” to have been an NCO in the 34th Platoon where Mr Mullaney had served until his death.

At the tribunal Mr Henry said: “Here, in front of everybody, I am ashamed to be a company sergeant of an apprentice company with people carrying on like that.

“I have never forgotten what I saw that (June 22) night and it still affects me to this day.

“To the apprentices of the 34th Platoon, I apologise to each and every single one of them here and now. That is something that I, as (company sergeant), thought I’d never have to face.”

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41876054.html

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Senior army officer rejects ‘inaccurate’ claim junior officers ‘ill-equipped’ to train recruits

Brigadier General Stephen Ryan told the Defence Forces Tribunal second lieutenants and lieutenants are ‘trained to do their job, and part of their job is to do recruit training’

Brigadier General Stephen Ryan after giving evidence at the Defence Forces Tribunal. Picture: Neil Michael.

One of the army’s most senior officers has described as “inaccurate” a claim that training for junior officers left them “ill-equipped” to train new recruits.

The claim was made on Thursday by a retired officer known as 2Lt B, who is alleged to have repeatedly mistreated recruits under his care at the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks, Naas, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The alleged mistreatment includes 2Lt B allegedly getting recruits to dance with each other and sing nursery rhymes after a day of firing range training on June 20, 1991. He is also alleged to have ordered a recruit to eat cigarette butts from an ashtray after catching him smoking in his dormitory.

Brigadier General Stephen Ryan was asked if junior officers were ill-equipped to train recruits. He told the Defence Forces Tribunal: “That wouldn’t be an accurate statement.”

He said second lieutenants and lieutenants are “trained to do their job, and part of their job is to do recruit training”.

He was himself a lieutenant when he was ordered to take over command of the 34th Platoon in July 1991 from 2LTB, who was a 2nd lieutenant at the time.

In a statement he had made to the tribunal, 2Lt B — who cannot be named for legal reasons — had said his own training didn’t equip him for his role as a platoon commander in the Army Apprentice School.

Brig Gen Ryan, who is the general officer commanding two brigade covering the eastern region of the country, said that, by the time he arrived at Devoy Barracks to take over from 2LTB, he was “well capable” of training recruits.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-41873592.html

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Defence Forces officer denies abuse allegations at tribunal hearing

A Defence Forces officer accused of ordering a recruit soldier to eat cigarette butts has, for the first time, publicly denied those claims and all other allegations that he mistreated recruits.

At a packed hearing of the Defence Forces Tribunal, the officer, known only as 2LTB, was asked to address the allegations against him.

They include allegedly getting recruits to dance with each other and sing nursery rhymes — including Silent Night — after a day of firing range training on June 20, 1991.

One recruit, Oliver Mullaney, is alleged to have been repeatedly humiliated by the officer — who cannot be named for legal reasons — and to have been ordered to dance on a chair before kissing other male recruits.

The tribunal has heard that the 19-year-old was so upset by the way he was treated that he took his own life two days later while on armed sentry duty at Devoy Barracks.

The officer, after a momentary pause, addressed the tribunal and said: “I respect the right of all persons to come to the tribunal. Persons have come with allegations of abuse.

“I don’t doubt their sincerity. I would regret any feelings they have.

“I do have to deny I mistreated any member of the 34th platoon or any other apprentice.”

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41872695.html

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