fishing industry
A series of articles about the dying Irish fishing industry - one of Ireland's few remaining indigenous industries.
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'You must speak up': Defence Forces launches campaign to tackle 'unacceptable behaviour'
The Defence Forces has launched an internal campaign to tackle “unacceptable behaviour” as its chief of staff urged people to "speak up" when witnessing wrongdoing.The See Something, Say Something campaign was formally launched today by Lieutenant General Ross Mulcahy.In an internal memo, he told senior officers and other personnel that the campaign will run for the next year and “will provide clear information on dealing with behaviour that is not in line with our organisation's values”.He rem...
National Symphony Orchestra musician, 71, claims discrimination on age grounds
The Workplace Relations Commission is to investigate a claim that one of Ireland’s celebrated classical musicians has been discriminated against on the grounds of his age.John Finucane, who has been principal clarinet with Ireland’s RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra since 1995 and has been described by Gramophone magazine as "an outstanding virtuoso", claims he is being discriminated against by the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).The 71-year-old has had a contract of “indefinite duration” wi...
Isme: Ireland's reliance on multinationals is 'a national emergency'
Irish governments have been “sleepwalking” towards a potential economic crisis by failing to reduce the State’s dependence on foreign direct investment, according to Isme, the representative body for small and medium businesses.Chief executive Neil McDonnell said the Government should treat the issue as a national emergency and take urgent action to strengthen indigenous enterprise.“The Government needs to stop kicking the can down the road,” he said. “It needs to come up with a solution.“This i...
Legal aid impasse likely to keep Women of Honour out of next Defence Forces Tribunal module
The Women of Honour group of veterans is unlikely to take part in the next public module of the Defence Forces Tribunal.This is because of ongoing delays in High Court proceedings between the Department of Defence and the abuse survivors’ group.They are challenging the department’s decision to only fund the Minister for Defence and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces’ ongoing legal costs, and not those of victims of abuse.The two sides were in court last Thursday, but matters were adjourned...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Why it was established, how much it cost, and what's next
The tribunal is a three-year inquiry into how complaints were handled in the Defence Forces from 1983 until 2024.Its establishment in June 2024 was a recommendation of the Independent Review Group (IRG): Defence Forces Report.Published in March 2023, that report detailed disturbing allegations which included the rape of both male and female soldiers.Those abused include the Women of Honour, a group of serving and former members whose allegations featured in an RTÉ documentary by reporter Katie...
Women of Honour call for stronger support for Defence Forces Tribunal witnesses
As the first round of public hearings draws to a close, pending the resumption of evidence in October, there are still a few elephants in the Defence Forces Tribunal room.One concerns the level of appropriate, one-to-one support available to witnesses who have given evidence of alleged rape, sexual assault, and child abuse within the Defence Forces.Another is whether those accused of criminal wrongdoing will face investigation.The Women of Honour group and former members of the Army Apprentice...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Member of press office confirmed to give evidence next week
A serving member of the Defence Forces press office is due to give evidence before the Defence Forces Tribunal next week.Sergeant Rena Kennedy, who has worked in military communications for the past 21 years, is scheduled to appear on Wednesday, July 15. She is expected to give evidence about non-sexual abuse dating from before she joined the Defence Forces press office.Widely known in military and media circles, Sgt Kennedy had spent 11 years in other roles in the Defence Forces before moving...
Defence Forces Tribunal: All records of official officer warnings were deleted in 1992
The Defence Forces Tribunal has been told that the record of all official warnings against every officer in the Defence Forces was deleted in 1992.The decision was given as a reason why the record of a reprimand against an officer alleged to have brutally abused recruits was cleared less than a year after he had been reprimanded.The officer, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is alleged to have bullied one apprentice so badly that he took his own life on June 22, 1991.Known only as 2LT.B in...
The Mick Clifford Podcast: The Defence Forces Tribunal that was two decades in the making
For the last month, a Defence Forces tribunal, that was over two decades in the making, has been hearing shocking evidence about how some officers conducted themselves.
Allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse have called to mind the kind of army life that might have existed in a colonial force from the nineteenth century.
Allegations of sexual, physical and psychological abuse have called to mind the kind of army life that might have existed in a colonial force from the nineteenth century.
Defence Forces Tribunal: NCO breaks down as he tells how 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.The 19-year-old is alleged to have been the...
Meet Ger Deering: Ireland's 'old-fashioned' Ombudsman and Information Commissioner
In an age of apps, AI and increased digital automation, Ger Deering is not ashamed to say he is a bit “old-fashioned”.Instead of direct messaging or emailing people, the Ombudsman and Information Commissioner for Ireland actively encourages his staff to pick up the phone and talk to people.“We use what I call an ‘old-fashioned innovation’. We actually use the telephone,” he said.“You see it now in both the private and the public sector, trying to find a telephone number on a website can be quite...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Senior army officer rejects 'inaccurate' claim junior officers 'ill-equipped' to train recruits
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 2LTB, 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 2LTB allegedly getting recruits to dance with each other and sing nursery rhymes a...
Latest from the Defence Forces tribunal
Senior Journalist with the Irish Examiner Neil Michael.
Defence Forces Tribunal: 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.O...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Barrister accuses Defence Forces of 'cover up'
A Defence Forces Tribunal barrister has accused the Defence Forces of a “cover up” in its handling of an investigation into mistreatment of a recruit by a senior officer.Aedan McGovern, senior counsel, said the 1991 investigation into the alleged mistreatment of Damien Traynor — which led to him suffering a nervous breakdown — was handled so badly that he could only conclude that “the entire thing was a cover up”.His assertion was made to retired Defence Forces officer Thomas O’Keeffe who had...
Defence Forces Tribunal: 'Deeply concerning': Defence Forces covering legal costs of accused officers at tribunal
The Women of Honour abuse survivor group has described as “deeply concerning" an assurance given by the Defence Forces that the legal costs of officers accused of wrongdoing would be covered.The Irish Examiner has been shown a letter in which the Defence Forces assured the Association of Retired Commissioned Officers that their members would receive legal support if they had to appear before the Defence Forces Tribunal.The assurance was given before any of the officers had even been notified by...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Training session 'a day of horror... like being in Full Metal Jacket', soldier says
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...
Stark evidence presented to Defence Forces Tribunal into the effectiveness of abuse complaint processes
Neil Michael, Irish Examiner, on the latest from the tribunal.
Defence Forces Tribunal: Soldier breaks down as he recounts last words of apprentice before his death
“How can 52 lads be so wrong and one man be so right?” These were the last words spoken by a teenage army recruit ordered by an officer to sing nursery rhymes and kiss other male recruits before he shot himself while on army sentry duty at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co Kildare.This is according to testimony given to the Defence Forces Tribunal by a former fellow recruit in the 34th Platoon in the Army Apprentice School in Devoy Barracks.David McGrath, who enlisted in August 1989 at the age of...
Latest from the Defence Forces tribunal
Neil Michael, Irish Examiner, on the latest from the tribunal.
‘I walked into hell’: Recruit tells Defence Forces Tribunal of being ‘tortured, not trained’
Recruits to the Defence Forces’ Apprentice School in the 1980s and 1990s were “tortured, not trained”, the Defence Forces Tribunal has been told.Recalling the day he joined the 34th Platoon at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co Kildare, in September 1989 at the age of 16, Denis Kennedy said: “I walked into hell.” He told the tribunal he witnessed a senior officer — known as 2LTB and who cannot be named for legal reasons — assaulting him and other recruits, including kicking a fellow recruit in the ribs...
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.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...
Ombudsman: HSE pledges €8m to help move young adults with disabilities out of nursing homes
Extra funding has been secured to help more adults with disabilities aged between 20 and 65 leave nursing homes, according to the Ombudsman.Ger Deering, who has previously highlighted the HSE practice, said he has been informed €8m will be used to move residents — including those with acquired brain injuries, spinal injuries, or multiple sclerosis and stroke survivors — into more suitable accommodation.The money is up from the €5.5m made available in 2023.The €8m is part of an over €10m allocati...
Defence Forces Tribunal: Army apprentices warned 'someone is going to have to die' due to alleged abuse by officer
Army apprentices who claim to have been physically and mentally by an officer warned “someone is going to have to die” for the abuse to stop just months before one of them ended their life, the Defence Forces Tribunal has heard.Oliver Mullaney was one of the apprentices allegedly abused by the officer - who cannot be named in tribunal hearings - while in the 34th Platoon at the Apprentice School at Devoy Barracks in Co Kildare, when he died on the evening of June 22, 1991.At the time, Mr Mullane...
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