Defence Forces to study women's claims

The Defence Forces are to establish a study review board, chaired by a senior woman officer, to examine allegations of widespread sexual harassment in the Army.

The allegations are contained in a study of bullying and discrimination by a former Army captain, Mr Tom Clonan, details of which were published yesterday in The Irish Times.

Defence Forces spokesman Capt Paul Connors said they had yet to see the report and therefore could not comment on it.

He said, however, it would be studied by the review board, which would also "look at where we stand on policy and guidelines and where we should go from here".

The Defence Forces also plan to hold a number of "women's days" at which female officers of various ranks will be invited to exchange views and discuss experiences.

"The end result should be that we will hopefully have a system that is very much women-friendly," Capt Connors said.

The study, conducted over four years, cites numerous incidents of women soldiers being subjected to obscene phone calls and sexually explicit remarks. Of 60 interviewees, 12 said they had been the victims of sexual assaults in the workplace.

A theme running through the study was that women soldiers who suffered abuse felt there was no adequate way of complaining.

Commenting on the findings yesterday, the Labour Party's spokesman on defence, Mr Jack Wall TD, accused the Defence Forces of "abject failure" in implementing a commitment to sexual equality made more than a decade ago.

"It is now beyond doubt that sexual discrimination is endemic in the Irish Defence Forces," he said.

Mr Wall said it was imperative that the Minister for Defence took immediate action to curb the rise in cases of abuse and discrimination.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Defence said it would examine the report once it got a copy.

While she said she could not comment on its findings in the meantime, she noted the Government would bring the Defence Forces Ombudsman Bill before the Dail this autumn and "this will strengthen the procedures that are there".

Capt Connors said the Defence Forces "greatly look forward" to the appointment of an ombudsman who would report directly to the Dail, "which gives a very objective channel if people have a grievance".

He stressed that the Defence Forces were not rejecting the findings of the report.

"We are rejecting the claim that we don't have a system in place for dealing with complaints."