The Minister for Defence and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces have been ordered to hand over the identity and contact details of people who may have blocked or ignored complaints of abuse within the armed forces.
The Defence Forces Tribunal has issued disclosure orders against the heads of the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. This gives it the power to seek the home address and most recent contact details of people who may need to be given a chance to respond to claims made against them. This includes investigating officers and civil servants, as well as those who may have failed to handle complaints about hazardous chemicals within Air Corps headquarters at Casement Aerodrome, Baldonnel.
Decision-makers, mediators, people involved in the complaints process for allegations of abuse and those who “deterred” or failed to respond to complaints of abuse are all all among the people the tribunal now wants to contact.
A disclosure order was issued against both Lieutenant General Rossa Mulcahy, the chief of staff of the Defence Forces, and Simon Harris, the former Minister for Defence, on October 23rd. This created the power for the tribunal to make written requests for the contact details of people it wants to interview.
READ MORE
Each time such a request is made, the Defence Forces and the department will have 14 days to respond.
Though the Defence Forces had initially claimed to the Tribunal that handing over the contact details could be a breach of data protection, the tribunal said individuals need to be given the chance to respond to allegations that may be made against them.
The tribunal was set up to investigate the handling of abuse claims in the Defence Forces. In January, it made an order for discovery for vast volumes of discovery documentation from within the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces. Some of the documentation dated back over 40 years.
At the time, the tribunal did not believe it needed to have identifying personal details, but the documents included markers and codes which could show if the same anonymised person was involved in alleged abuse cases.
Ms Justice Ann Power, the sole member of the Defence Forces Tribunal, has been leading the private investigative stage of the tribunal inquiry. This involved over 140 people being interviewed about their experiences within the Defence Forces. As a result of some of the things raised in those interviews, the tribunal has now decided it is “both necessary and in the public interest” for the contact details and names of certain individuals “with whom it now seeks to engage” to be handed over. Lt Gen Mulcahy told the tribunal he was concerned about data-protection issues.
In his response, the then-Minister for Defence, Mr Harris, said he was “very anxious” to ensure the tribunal got the contact details it sought, which he accepted was in the public interest. Mr Harris also cited some data-protection concerns and wanted to avoid causing distress if former members had died without the Department of Defence’s knowledge.
Malcomson Law Solicitors, which is representing the Women of Honour group, also told the tribunal that the order for disclosure would likely affect some of the members of the group, including those who had wanted to remain confidential.
While the tribunal considered some of the concerns raised, it decided it was “necessary” and “in the public interest” to order the disclosure of the contact information.
The Department of Defence said it will “comply with all written requests received from the Tribunal of Inquiry”. The Defence Forces also said it “will comply with all written requests from the Tribunal of Inquiry as they are received”.
