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Women of Honour 'disappointed' over funding dispute for Defence Forces Tribunal
🇮🇪 Ireland /Crime & Justice

Women of Honour 'disappointed' over funding dispute for Defence Forces Tribunal

From RTÉ News · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • The Women of Honour group is refusing to participate in the Defence Forces Tribunal due to a dispute over funding for their involvement.
  • The tribunal was established to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying, and discrimination within the Defence Forces.
  • The group argues it is unfair that those being investigated have resources while they do not, and that the Department of Defence controls the funding.

The Women of Honour group has expressed disappointment and is refusing to attend the Defence Forces Tribunal, citing a dispute over funding for their participation. This tribunal was established to examine allegations of sexual misconduct, bullying, and discrimination within the Defence Forces, following recommendations from an independent review group prompted by reports from Women of Honour.

As the advocacy group that sought and fought for the statutory inquiry, it is ironic now that those being investigated have the resources and we have none.

— Women of HonourA statement explaining their frustration over the funding disparity between their group and those being investigated.

The group is seeking state funding to participate in the tribunal and is currently pursuing a judicial review on the matter. The tribunal has entered its second day of public hearings, but representation for Women of Honour is absent. They stated it is "not appropriate to attend the tribunal at this time given the extraordinary current funding situation."

There is a fundamental flaw in the tribunal process in Ireland where those being investigated are also the sponsoring department of an investigation into itself and its agencies.

— Women of HonourCritiquing the structure of the tribunal process in Ireland.

Women of Honour highlighted the irony that those being investigated possess resources while their group does not. They pointed to a "fundamental flaw" in the Irish tribunal process, where the department being investigated also sponsors the investigation. The group has advocated for an independent body to decide on funding or for it to be managed by the Department of the Taoiseach or Tánaiste.

Our judicial review seeks interim funding to be given to us by the Minister for Defence.

— Women of HonourDetailing their legal action to secure funding.

"Our judicial review seeks interim funding to be given to us by the Minister for Defence," the group stated, adding that their applications have been consistently refused for over a year. They feel the refusal to grant them the same standing on funding as those being investigated compounds the trauma and suggests victims are peripheral to the inquiry, viewing it as further punishment for seeking the tribunal.

To date and after more than a year of applications, we have been constantly refused.

— Women of HonourDescribing the prolonged difficulty in obtaining funding.
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Originally published by RTÉ News in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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