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Once, when a rumour swept through the platoon that weekend leave was to be withdrawn because one recruit had failed to “keep up on a run”, recruits ran for the front gate before it could be confirmed officially.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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Teenage Defence Forces apprentice’s death in 1991 was regarded as suicide within his platoon, tribunal hears

A teenage Defence Forces apprentice’s death in 1991, treated officially as an “accident”, was regarded as suicide within his platoon, it has been revealed.

04/06/2026 Dublin Irish leinster Ireland. Photo shows Col Damien Coakley arriving at the Defences Forces Tribunal taking place at the Infinity Building in Smithfield Dublin into claims of the culture surrounding the making of complaints of abuse. The tribunal is focusing on complaints processes in the Defence Forces spanning over four decades, from 1983 to 2024. Photo: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

It has also emerged that, 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 head of the Defence Force’s military police revealed the existence of the two investigations into Mr Mullaney’s death to tribunal lawyers when they interviewed him last month.

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

Under cross examination by the tribunal’s senior counsel Michael Cush, the Irish forces provost marshal and director of military police told tribunal investigators he had become aware of “certain issues” around the death of Mr Mullaney in 1991.

He said he discovered there were two investigations into the 19-year-old’s death.

He found this out after he had been instructed by the tribunal to look into the investigation of Mr Mullaney’s death.

Mr Cush said: “In assisting the Defence Forces prepare for this tribunal, you became aware there were, in fact, two separate military police investigations in relation to the death of [Mr Mullaney]”.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41856930.html

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Defence Forces to explain at public hearing its handling of complaints from members

Public hearings will begin today on how the Defence Forces dealt with complaints from male and female personnel including a number related to sexual abuse and rape.

Giving evidence before Ms Justice Ann Power, the Tribunal of Inquiry will hear evidence from serving and former Defence Forces personnel.

The first hearing is the latest phase of the tribunal, which was established in June 2024 by then Tánaiste and minister for defence Micheál Martin, after a report of a review into allegations of brutal and “sadistic” abuse.

Those allegations, contained in the March 2023 Independent Review Group (IRG): Defence Forces Report, included the rape of both male and female soldiers.

The report also found that while abuse was mainly carried out by male officers — 88% of female soldiers polled reported they had suffered abuse — female officers were also involved.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41807864.html

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McEntee “should apologise” for remarks she made in the Dáil!

Air Corps toxic exposure survivors say they are “disgusted” by what the Defence Minister said.

Survivors of toxic poisoning in the Air Corps have demanded Helen McEntee apologise for remarks she made in the Dáil.

They have accused her of “belittling” suffering they have endured after being exposed to toxic chemicals without adequate PPE since the 1970s.

Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors campaign group spokesperson and former Air Corps technician Gavin Tobin said: “Her remarks were offensive and she should apologise.”

The defence minister was asked by Sinn Féin TD Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire on Thursday, May 7 to consider the way the Australian government supported its air crews exposed to toxic chemicals.

More than 400 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) maintenance crew members who contracted any one of 31 prescribed illnesses – including cancer – while working for the air force were given compensation and ongoing screening and healthcare.

Almost all of the Air Corps maintenance workers in Ireland who have either died or fallen ill since 1980 have suffered or are still suffering the same illness on that prescribed illnesses list.

The comparison between the Irish Air Corps and RAAF was first brought up by Micheal Martin in the Dáil in February 2017.

Then, as leader of the opposition, he demanded the government commission an independent health outcome study of aircraft maintenance personnel “similar to that carried out by the Australian Government”.

This audit examined systems in each Defence Forces formation – including the Air Corps, which has around 30 outstanding damages claims against it from former personnel.

Read full article by Neil Michael below…

https://reporterneilmichael.substack.com/p/mcentee-should-apologise-for-remarks

Government playbook in Air Corps scandal copies all the others

The State’s response to decade-old Air Corps chemical exposure scandal is clearly one of ‘deny, delay, die’

**Gavin Tobin beside Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel Co. Dublin. it has been over a decade since he, one of the whistle-blowers, first took legal action against the State**
Photo: Gareth Chaney

I have a personal yardstick by which to measure how long it has been since the Irish Examiner broke news of the scandal of the chemical exposures suffered by Air Corps personnel.

I will always know my first story on this was published in January 2017.

I remember because a couple of weeks or so after a series of revelations in this newspaper, I was coming out of a maternity ward buzzing from the high of becoming a father for the first time.

Leaving the hospital, I checked my voicemail, assuming the missed call from a private number was a well-wisher leaving a quick note of congratulations.

The curt tone that greeted me made it apparent this was not the case. Instead, a senior member of the government of the day was letting me know, in a very diplomatic “I’m not angry, just disappointed” manner, what he thought of our coverage of the Air Corps scandal.

For obvious reasons I can’t recall verbatim a voicemail from over nine years ago, but the word that stood out then and still does now was “unfair”.

We had revealed that Air Corps personnel were not properly protected from the dangerous, carcinogenic, chemicals with which they worked in Casement Aerodrome.

We highlighted how whistle-blowers raising the alarm felt they were not being heard by the Defence Forces, the State, or senior politicians.

After public pronouncements from one minister to say they were not aware of any issues whistle-blowers had with contacting them, we published a series of messages between whistle-blowers and politicians that showed they had unsuccessfully tried to speak with the cabinet member on the matter.

State can act swiftly in certain matters

When RTÉ broke the Women of Honour story in 2021, detailing abuse suffered by female members of the Defence Forces, an official investigation and tribunal of inquiry swiftly followed.

The Air Corps allegations were added to the terms of reference of this tribunal — but jaded campaigners understandably believe they were only thrown in as an afterthought, benefitting from the larger outcry over a different scandal.

Even then, the tribunal is tasked with probing the handling of complaints about toxic exposure, not the exposure itself.

What is most unforgiveable about the State’s inaction on this issue is that a blueprint was there for them to follow.

The Australian Air Force had similar complaints from its mechanics, and established investigations, health screening, and supports for those affected.

“A precedent has been set by Australia where, in the early 2000s, the issue was identified and acted on by the Australian government,” Micheál Martin told the Dáil in 2017.

“Why was the State so slow to respond to the whistle-blowers and to investigate the health conditions at Baldonnel?” the man who is now Taoiseach asked.

Read full article by Joe Leogue at the Irish Examiner website below.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/commentanalysis/arid-41807864.html

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Exposure to toxic chemicals in the Air Corps: ‘I hate that my life feels over at 53’

Years of exposure to toxic chemicals while serving in the Air Corps have left Mick Murphy practically bed-ridden.

After serving in the army and then the air corps before distinguished service in the gardaí, Mick Murphy has much to be proud of.

As well as a successful battle against cancer in his 20s, the 53-year-old also brims with pride when he thinks about his three daughters and his son.

But there is also sadness. Years of exposure to toxic chemicals while serving in the air corps have taken their toll. They have left him practically bed-ridden amid decades of constantly battling one illness after the other.

When Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin, then in opposition, labelled the air corps toxic chemical exposure scandal a “horror story” in the Dáil in 2017, Mr Murphy knew exactly what he was talking about.

The previous year, there were only two months when he wasn’t in a hospital. Then, that December, he got hit by double pneumonia and pulmonary sepsis. As a result, he now has to use a nebuliser four times a day as well as an inhaler. He had to have an oxygen-compression machine fitted in his bedroom and oxygen tanks installed downstairs.

Mr Murphy’s horror story began just a few years after he completed his Leaving Certificate in 1989.

About four years after he started in the air corps, he started getting tired more often and experienced chest pain, night sweats, and a persistent cough.

A year after daughter Aoife was born, he got news he didn’t expect: He had the blood cancer Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was only 23.

“I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “I was just floored by the news. I was never told any cause for my cancer and I suppose I just thought I had been a bit unlucky in life. It was only later in life that I heard about friends I had served with either died or ended up being really sick.

Unbeknown to him at the time, the disease is one of the cancers linked to exposure to certain industrial chemical solvents like TCE.

Other consequences of exposure to toxic chemicals include an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety, and other mental health disorders.

There was no history of cancer in his family so the diagnosis came as a massive shock.

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

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/spotlight/arid-41800226.html

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