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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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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