The Women of Honour have said they are 'shocked' at the appointment of the Secretary General of the Department of Defence as a member of the external overnight body tasked with driving necessary cultural change within the Defence Forces
THE WOMEN OF Honour have said they are “shocked” at the appointment of the Secretary General of the Department of Defence as a member of the external overnight body tasked with driving necessary cultural change within the Defence Forces.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said yesterday these are “good appointments”, and that they evidence how “seriously” the Government is taking both allegations of abuse within the Defence Forces, and the recommendations made in the report from the Independent Review Group on abuse allegations. In a statement last night, the WoH said they were “shocked” by the appointment of the Department of Defence’s Secretary General as a full members of the oversight body.The WoH said they will be seeking a meeting with the Taoiseach regarding her appointment.
The WoH added that “putting the Department of Defence on the body, while it is yet to be investigated for the ongoing abuse in the Defence Forces, is unbelievable”. When asked why the group, which has campaigned to bring cases of abuse to light, was not consulted on the appointments that have been made to the external oversight body, Martin said that it is key that the body is “external of everyone”.The Defence Act 1954 will have to be amended to allow all allegations of rape, or aggravated sexual assault in the Defence Forces in the State be referred to An Garda Síochána for investigation.
The IRG report warned: “Change is required to rebuild what is clearly broken in existing systems. The recommendations in this report are radical and, if implemented, will be far-reaching.
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