Women of Honour: We need a statutory inquiry like no other

Many tribunals previously launched in Ireland failed the people who held complete faith in them to vindicate their fight for justice. In most cases, the outcome did not provide the much-needed change and transformation for which the people who believed in them hoped and prayed. Thus, now, this is where the men and women of the Defence Forces, both past and present, find themselves.

We need a statutory inquiry like no other. This inquiry needs to be different from ones that commenced before. I like to think of it as a David and Goliath moment. There is no more powerful image than the underdog overcoming the perceived giant. We need this inquiry to fire a slingshot and bring about the much-needed change and transformation that is required by the Department of Defence in its entirety.

The question remains – will our voices finally be heard and will the silence that so many of us held on to for so many years in the past, due to the crippling shame that the experience of being sexually abused and discriminated against bestowed on us, finally be removed? Is this really a watershed moment? Is this the time for the dam of inequity to finally break wide open?

I believe this is our time; opportunities like this come about once in a lifetime and this is where we are. This will be a defining moment and be remembered for what it is: a piece of history. This prospect cannot fall into the abyss of nothingness and be another one of those forgotten moments. We cannot let this happen, this is way too important and although for now we have fought the good fight, we most certainly have not yet run the good race to the end.

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We are very aware that there is a marathon ahead of us as we strive to achieve the impossible, but I, and others like me, have been training for this moment all of our lives. Change is about to happen, something positive is about to occur and we can all feel it. This is the time – history will be made; new shoots of hope are emerging.

However, for this to happen, we need a victim-led/survivor public inquiry to bring about a new blueprint that will work in any organisation thereafter. The idea that others are suffering in our society because of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, abuse, victimisation, discrimination and mobbing and have no voice to be heard, can no longer be tolerated in modern Ireland. Each person has a human right to be treated with dignity and respect. For too many years some of us have suffered in silence in the Defence Forces.

Ministers have known for years what has been going on in terms of sexual and other abuses. I myself wrote a protected disclosure in January 2017 reporting the sexual abuse, discrimination and bullying I had suffered. Yet nothing happened to change the culture in the Defence Forces up to now. Why?

I was recently told that the case I won in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in December 2020 brought some people in the Defence Forces a glimmer of hope – solace in a dark period of their lives. I thank God each day for that victory. However, the real catalyst for change came two years ago, after the Katie Hannon documentary (aired in September 2021) on Women of Honour (WoH). Following this, the Government appointed an independent review group which in itself had little power with the tools provided, to get the much-needed job done: a complete examination and overhaul of the Defence Forces.

I hope everyone has the shared goal of a victim-led, independent, agreed public statutory process, so we can finally move on to what really needs to be done

Although the independent review was something that the WoH did not support, we did encourage people to tell their stories at this forum. I applaud their courage, conviction and bravery for telling their raw truths and bearing their souls openly. They have created a united voice which highlighted the extent of the untold pain and suffering our soldiers endured in our Defence Forces.

These people came forward because of the hunger to heal the culture and to finally tell their own harrowing experiences, that in some cases remained buried for years. These stories have now laid the foundations that will finally bring about real change and transformation in the Defence Forces. In my opinion, these people are the heroes in the decision on Tuesday to finally have a much-needed statutory inquiry. I am proud to call them my brothers and sisters today, as I and our group have always said: “There is strength in numbers; ní neart go cur le chéile.”

However, now we must remember that justice delayed is justice denied. Time is of the essence as reform is desperately needed for the current members of the Defence Forces.

Now is the time to rebuild real trust with one another so that the impossible will become possible. I hope everyone has the shared goal of a victim-led, independent, agreed public statutory process, so we can finally move on to what really needs to be done. In a country that keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over, a statutory inquiry is really the last chance for real change in the Defence Forces and a way for victims to find resolution.

Let us hope this change comes soon and those soldiers who have yet to find their voices will emerge so the Defence Forces can become a blaze of light, truth and transparency for the current and next generation. Let us hope they will speak truth to power, so that truth will indeed set us all free. Let us pray that this organisation can become something special for those who are, and have always been, proud to wear their uniform.

Yvonne O’Rourke is a member of the Women of Honour and a former Air Corps Captain. She was sexually assaulted by a senior officer while she served in the Defence Forces.