Army got 105 complaints in 2009, 27 from dismissed man

AN ARMY officer who was recently dismissed from the Defence Forces after using offensive language to his superior had lodged 27 complaints last year with the Defence Forces Ombudsman.

The complaints lodged by squadron commander Comdt Niall Donohoe (47) accounted for the vast majority of the bullying or inappropriate behaviour cases last year, of which there were 31.

The fact that such a high number of complaints were lodged by one person was revealed during the launch yesterday of the annual report of Defence Forces Ombudsman Paulyn Marrinan Quinn.

Ms Marrinan Quinn declined to comment on the identity of the complainant but The Irish Timeshas established they came from Mr Donohoe.

A commissioned officer of 28 years’ service, Mr Donohoe called his commanding officer Lieut Col Gerry O’Sullivan a “little prick” at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on January 30th last year.

He was dismissed last week after a court martial found he had used insulting language to a superior. He plans to appeal the outcome of the Court Martial.

Mr Donohoe was the first officer in two decades to be dismissed from the Defence Forces.

The total number of complaints received by the ombudsman from serving personnel last year reached 105, just one down on 2008. Of last year’s complaints, some 37 related to promotions, 31 related to inappropriate behaviour or bullying, and 14 centred on dissatisfaction with selection for career development courses.

Of the remaining complaints, eight alleged maladministration, three related to selection for overseas duties and one complaint dealt with conditions of employment or pensions.

A further 15 cases were lodged with the ombudsman but were deemed to be outside its remit.

There were no complaints from any members of the Army, Air Corps or Navy alleging sexual harassment.

Ms Marrinan Quinn upheld 74 per cent of all of the complaints investigated by her office last year.

No complaints of bullying or inappropriate behaviour were upheld.

The 27 complaints lodged by Mr Donohoe could not be finalised because his Court Martial process was still active for all of last year.

The Defence Forces said the number of complaints received by the ombudsman was considerably lower than a number of years ago. A spokesman said personnel now had greater confidence in the Defence Forces’ internal complaints mechanism.

As part of her duties, Ms Marrinan Quinn submits reports to the Minister for Defence, based on her findings after looking into some complaints with a view to remedying those that are upheld.

This could include selecting a soldier for an overseas mission or sending them on a course for which they were not initially approved.

However, Ms Marrinan Quinn said the time taken by the former minister for defence Willie O’Dea to respond to her reports increased to an average of 129 days in 2009, some 40 days longer than in 2008. She was concerned at this because the delay meant the time to remedy an upheld complaint had often passed by the time Mr O’Dea acted.

“The promotion is often gone, the ship has sailed, the overseas posting is over; I think 129 days is quite a long time,” she said.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said that many reports related to complex cases that each took time to properly review. However, she said the department was now prioritising the processing of reports and the number of outstanding reports had been reduced from 16 to eight in recent weeks.