The death of a 19-year-old apprentice at a Defence Forces barracks some 35 years ago is being examined by a tribunal into complaints of abuse within the military.
The Defence Forces tribunal is about to make an order for discovery of all military files relating to the death of Oliver Mullaney, an apprentice who died at Devoy Barracks in Naas on June 22nd, 1991.
Mullaney was a trainee motor mechanic who had been in the Defence Forces for only 20 months at the time of his death. He was from Sheffield, a townland just outside Leitrim village that was known as “Sheafield” at the time of his death. His parents were Joseph and Mary Mullaney, and he had three brothers and two sisters.
On the night of Saturday, June 22nd, Mullaney was on sentry duty at Devoy Barracks, which served as the Army apprentice school from the 1950s until it closed in 1998.
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At about 9.15pm, three gunshots were heard. The fatal shots came from Mullaney’s own gun, a Steyr 5.56mm assault rifle. Reports in local and national newspapers the next week said the Army was treating his death as accidental.
It was reported at the time that the Army would hold an internal inquiry into the 19-year-old’s death, with an investigation also launched by gardaí at Naas. There is no record of the inquiry’s findings ever being made public.
The Defence Forces tribunal, which was set up in July 2023, is examining how the military handles allegations of abuse through its culture and complaints processes.
The tribunal can compel the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces to provide it with documents and information. In a notice published this month, the tribunal said it intends to issue a disclosure order by Friday, February 13th, to the chief of staff of the Defence Forces for “all documents relating to the investigation conducted by the Military Police” concerning Mullaney’s death.
The tribunal said this would include statements, recordings, interviews, notes and records from the investigation, as well as correspondence and communications relating to the same case. Anyone other than Mullaney named in the files will be anonymised, and any other identifying information will be removed.
The tribunal said anyone who thinks they might be “affected” by the discovery order has until close of business today to make a submission to it in writing.
Mullaney’s funeral, which was well attended according to local newspaper reports, was held on Tuesday, June 25th, 1991. The Mass was held at noon in St Joseph’s Church, with Mullaney buried in Kiltoghert graveyard about a mile from the village. Friends from the Army participated in a guard of honour and some of Mullaney’s former classmates helped to carry his coffin.
In July 1991, less than a month after he died, Mullaney was among those remembered at an event for deceased members of the Irish Army at a ceremony in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Then president Mary Robinson was there. A piece covering the event for the Leitrim Observer said the national event had a “close significance” for local people after Mullaney’s death. “To his grief-stricken family we offer our sympathy and admit to our powerlessness in making such a tragedy less painful,” it said.
The following September, his parents took out a notice in the Leitrim Observer thanking everyone who had sympathised with them.
On the third and fifth anniversaries of his death, in 1994 and 1996, his family published the same acknowledgment in the Leitrim Observer: “No last farewells were spoken, we did not say goodbye. You were gone before we knew, and only God knows why.”
A spokesman for the Defence Forces said: “Óglaigh na hÉireann is committed in its full support and co-operation with the tribunal of inquiry. However, as this matter is currently before the tribunal, it would be inappropriate to provide a comment.”
- This article was edited on 12/2/26
