Irish defence minister begins review of sexual abuse allegations in army

Irish Defence Minister Simon Coveney met with former military personnel on Tuesday after a documentary that aired earlier this month detailed decades of alleged sexual harassment, assault and bullying towards female members of the Defence Forces.

The women featured in the documentary have called for an apology for what happened and say the programme aimed to establish an external inquiry and ensure a revision of the military’s systems for reporting sexual abuse.

Following the documentary’s airing, Coveney announced that current measures for dealing with complaints of this nature would be reviewed.

In a statement, Coveney said the review would be “conducted by independent, unbiased personnel” to “examine the effectiveness of current policies and procedures for dealing with workplace issues such as dignity, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination.”

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Deirdre Byrne, a retired Army Captain who took part in the documentary, told an RTÉ radio programme that “no change will come about if there isn’t an acknowledgement of what has happened and an apology would be absolutely deserved.”

Over the years, there have been “countless reports…reviews…issues raised and investigations. It needs to be different,” she added.

(Molly Killeen | EURACTIV.com)