Women of honour refused access to interim report detailing abuse in Defence Forces

AuthorConor Gallagher
Published date30 September 2022
Publication titleIrish Times: Web Edition Articles (Dublin, Ireland)
The Independent Review Group (IRG), led by retired High Court judge Bronagh O'Hanlon, has written an interim report after conducting a preliminary examination of the allegations. However, the Women of Honour group has been denied access to a copy, one of the complainants said on Wednesday

It is understood a large number of new alleged victims of abuse in the military have come forward to the review group since it started its work in January.

The allegations of the Women of Honour group first came to light in an RTÉ documentary last year, prompting Minister for Defence Simon Coveney to establish the Independent Review Group.

However, the Women of Honour have declined to appear before the review group as they believe it does not have enough powers to adequately investigation the allegations. The women have criticised the fact the IRG does not have the power to compel witnesses give evidence.

One of the women, retired captain Diane Byrne, said the Women of Honour group has been approached several times by the IRG "to come in and talk about how these issues could be fixed."

She said the group asked for sight of IRG's interim report before agreeing to this but that they have not been given a copy.

"We would like to see the interim report so as to have an understanding as to whether there is any hope in this. I would love for there to be hope in this," said Ms Byrne, who previously sued the Defence Forces after she was excluded from the promotions process due to be being on maternity leave.

"If they could show us something, we would then...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT