Month: July 2026

‘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.

Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

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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Delay – Deny – Die

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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Delay – Deny – Die