An Irish officer has been dismissed from the Defence Forces for attempting to interfere with a candidate’s application for a career in the Irish Army.
Lieutenant Shane Hunt, based with the 12th Infantry Battalion in Sarsfield Barracks in Limerick, was found guilty of two counts contrary to military law in attempting to thwart the application of Euan Mackay, who applied for a cadetship in 2021.
The offence occurred while Lieut Hunt was the secretary of the cadet interview board for that year.
On July 29th, 2021 he told Mr Mackay, who is now a serving officer in the Defence Forces, that his interview board would not be going ahead because one of the officers involved had Covid-19. This was a false statement.
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When Mr Mackay followed up on when his interview might take place, Lieut Hunt then conducted his own interview with Mr Mackay via Skype on August 24th, 2021.
When Lieut Hunt was asked on September 25th, 2021, to provide an updated list of successful cadetship candidates for security vetting, he did not include Mr Mackay’s name.
Lieut Hunt’s actions came to the attention of a senior officer within the Defence Forces when Mr Mackay raised it with him informally.
Lieut Hunt pleaded not guilty to five charges under military law when his trial commenced on October 25th. A military board found him guilty on two charges.
The first was conduct prejudicial to “good order and discipline” in the Defence Forces contrary to Section 168 of the Defence Act 1954. The second was providing a false document contrary to Section 167 (a) of the same Act.
Occupational social worker with the Defence Force Majella Hickey, who compiled a report for the general court martial having interviewed Lieut Hunt, said the officer had expressed remorse and taken responsibility for his actions.
Lieut Hunt had blamed “human error” and admitted he had forgotten to send a letter regarding Mr Mackay’s application.
Sentencing the accused, military judge Colonel Michael Campion said Lieut Hunt’s attempt to characterise the incident as a mistake was “disingenuous to downplay the seriousness of his conduct”.
Lieut Hunt could have retrieved the situation had he owned up to his mistakes at an early stage, but he instead he had compounded his difficulties by attempting to cover his tracks.
Trust and confidence are essential to any military force, the judge continued. An Irish officer receives his commission from the President of Ireland and an officer knows the standards of honesty and integrity required.
An offence that might not be regarded as serious in the civilian world can be regarded as serious in the military world and it was important to “lay down a marker” that offences such as this cannot be acceptable within the Defence Forces, the judge added.
Lieut Hunt had declined to give an explanation for his conduct and did not give evidence at his court martial. After the first time when he told the candidate the board was not sitting, he submitted a document four weeks later which excluded Mr Mackay from the process.
Therefore, the judge concluded, it could be assumed that his actions were a “premeditated attempt to exclude a bona-fide candidate from the competition”.
Given all the circumstances the judge stated that Lieut Hunt should be dismissed from the Defence Forces.
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