Taoiseach says people with convictions should be removed from the Defence Forces

TAOISEACH SIMON HARRIS has said that people with convictions should be removed from the Defence Forces.

His comments come after it was revealed last night that there are currently 68 members of the Defence Forces who have been convicted or are before the courts on a range of criminal offences.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels this morning, the Taoiseach said he does not want to “get into a back and forth” with the Defence Forces “he just wants the issue addressed”.

He made the point that there is already a regulation in the Defence Forces that says if somebody has been convicted and sentenced to a custodial sentence or a suspended sentence, the dismissal process should commence.

“So in the first instance, I want to know if that always happens,” the Taoiseach said.

He added that if there are any bureaucratic reasons stopping or slowing this for happening, he wants to understand what they are and wants to make the process more efficient.

In response to the Cathal Crotty case, the Taoiseach ordered an audit of the Defence Forces to establish how many members have criminal convictions.

Crotty, a member of the Defence Forces, was handed a three-year suspended sentence after viciously and randomly attacking a woman in Limerick. The process of his dismissal from the Defence Forces is now currently underway.

Cathal Crotty

Natasha O’Brien, the victim, subsequently waived her right to anonymity and has since led a campaign calling for an overhaul of the justice system.

When asked about the Defence Forces audit by The Journal today, the Taoiseach said:

“The first thing to say is what happened to Natasha O’Brien has really appalled everybody in this country. People are absolutely and utterly outraged.

Women in Ireland are fed up, angry, frustrated at yet another incident of gender-based violence.

“I can’t obviously comment on matters relating to the courts, I would have a lot to say if I was allowed but what I can certainly comment on is how the Defence Forces deals with these issues when they arise.”

Harris said cultural change and a zero tolerance approach is needed.

He added that one of the reasons he has been “particularly frustrated” this week is because of the fact we are one year on from the judge-led review of the Defence Forces which highlighted serious problems and has culminated in the establishment of a tribunal.

“This didn’t come out of the blue,” Harris said.

“That has added to my sense of frustration as to why there isn’t greater clarity around some of these things, but be that as it may I now want to see these issues resolved and resolved quickly.”

Meanwhile, some in Government have since expressed disbelief that the statistics around convictions in the Defence Forces were not immediately available at the Taoiseach’s request and took a number of days to compile.

“I would expect the Defence Forces to be able to provide timely, accurate and complete information to the government on this crucial subject,” Minister of State in the Department of Defence Jennifer Carroll MacNeill told The Journal yesterday.

She added: “Especially one year on since the very serious outcomes of the judge-led tribunal.”

Yesterday, the Taoiseach said members of the Defence Forces who have been accused of serious crimes should not be allowed to continue to serve while they await trial.

He said the Government will possibly have to look at new legislation to allow for this.

Expanding on those comments today, Harris said introducing such legislation would be a matter for the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, Micheál Martin, but that he believes there should be changes in this area.

“What I’m doing is taking this step-by-step,” he said.

“I understand very much that there is of course a difference between a conviction and an allegation and of course people are entitled to due process, but there are certain crimes that if they’re alleged of an individual in a certain organisation, like the Defence Forces and like An Garda Síochana, I think there’s credible issues to be raised there as to whether somebody should be suspended without prejudice,” the Taoiseach said.

Meanwhile, earlier today, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said people with a conviction of a “serious nature should not be in the Defence Forces”.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Donohoe said while he has the “greatest respect for work” of the Defence Forces, the report “underlines the importance of the modernisation work that is underway in the Defence Forces, enabled by the Commission on the Defence Forces”.

Donohoe said today that he was “sickened” and “absolutely appalled at the assault and trauma that Natasha O’Brien has endured”.

He added that people with a “conviction of this serious nature should not be the Defence Forces”.

“The Defence Forces matter,” said Donohoe, “they’re meant to represent the best of order and control within our country, and my God, it goes without saying that that event that we saw on the streets of Limerick is as far away from that as you could possibly imagine.”

With reporting from Diarmuid Pepper