Canary Movement calls for new independent Defence Forces review or review of findings so recommendations are much broader.

They also challenge Micheal Martin's claim he engages with "all" stakeholders. There is no real engagement, they say. Mr Martin says emails were sent.

An organisation commended for helping provide most of the victims’ testimonies in the recent Defence Forces review has called for another review.

The Canary Movement has branded the report of the Independent Review Group (IRG), which was set up in the wake of the Women of Honour controversy, “a sham”.

It says either an entirely new review with broader terms of reference needs to be undertaken or the IRG findings in March should be reviewed.

Members of the movement say this is because the IRG’s remit - which included a general examination of human resources issues, and of how females perceive themselves and how the army views them - was far too narrow to begin with.

They say they got involved in the process because they thought at least a majority of the 34 key issues they raised during the review process would feature in recommendations for action on in the final report.

But the findings, which included a call for a statutory fact-finding process to identify “systemic failures” in the complaints system, contained just three of the issues they wanted the State to act on.

Representatives of the movement were commended by the IRG chair Ms Justice Bronagh O’Hanlon for providing so much detailed and evidence-based testimony that she told them the review would have struggled without their help.

The Canary Movement has also said statements by Defence Minister Micheal Martin that he is engaging with “all stakeholders” are “simply not true”.

On the day the IRG report came out in March, for example, Mr Martin told the Dail: “I will engage with all stakeholders.”

On March 30, 2023, Mr Martin told TDs: “I will engage with all stakeholders as soon as they have had the opportunity to consider the report in detail. I assure the House I will bring forward terms of reference as soon as possible and engage with stakeholders in their preparation. A completely honest appraisal of the problems and a comprehensive plan to address them is the only way to honour the contribution of serving and retired personnel.”

Later, on May 24, Leo Varadkar told the Dail: “The Tánaiste has met with all relevant partners.”

But a spokesperson for the Canary Movement, which is a collective of more than 300 survivors and victims of abuse, negligence, victimisation and persecution in the Defence Forces and their families, said: “Mr Martin is not engaging with all stakeholders.

“If he was, he would realise most of us view the resulting report as a sham. It gives a very narrow version of a wider systemic problem.

“There needs to be a review of the IRG report findings or a completely new independent review.”

The only victims' and survivors' groups Mr Martin has said he is engaging and meeting with are the Women of Honour - who didn’t give evidence to the IRG panel - and the Men and Women of Honour.

Their combined membership is a small fraction of the number of members in the Canary Movement.

The minister has also said he has also met representatives of serving and former Defence Forces personnel.

These include PDFORRA, the representative body for enlisted personnel serving in the Defence Forces of Ireland, and the Representative Association of Commissioned Officers (RACO).

Mr Martin’s officials declined - when asked - to name exactly what groups in the Canary Movement he has engaged directly with.

As an example of engagement, however, they said Mr Martin had “corresponded with” the Canary Movement on July 4 where he “advised of his intent to bring proposals to Government the following week seeking approval to progress the Statutory inquiry”.

The Irish Examiner has seen the correspondence, which was a 160-word email from Mr Martin, which began “Dear Stakeholders”.

It was forwarded to the movement on his behalf just days before the minister brought his proposals to Cabinet.

A previous Department of Defence email on June 26 was also forwarded to the movement a few days before they were expected to respond to it.

The person who sent it even apologised “for the short timeframe” which they admitted was “outside our control”.

A Canary Movement spokesperson said: “Having emails forwarded to you addressed ‘Dear Stakeholders’ at the last minute is not real engagement.

“Real engagement is speaking on the phone to the minister, meeting the minister in person and having the minister give reasonable notice on important issues that require feedback.

“It is beyond belief that the collection of victims and survivors who gave the most evidence to the IRG panel are the ones who are being engaged with the least by Mr Martin.”

This article appeared in the Irish Examiner on Monday, August 21.

Notes:

Micheal Martin’s office was asked a series of questions. The list of questions and answers can be seen here.

The IRG was set up after the Women of Honour (WoH) expose in 2021 on RTE, which aired the experiences of abuse of a small group of serving and former female Defence Forces personnel.

The remit of the IRG panel was to examine aspects of allegations of discrimination, bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual misconduct in the Defence Forces.

Despite their stories prompting the IRG review, the WoH group did not give evidence. However, survivors and victims in groups under the Canary Movement umbrella movement did.

Those testimonies included those suffering from PTSD, the side-effects of the anti-malarial drug Lariam, chemical poisoning as well as victims bullying, discrimination and both physical as well as sexual abuse. They gave the majority of first person testimony to the IRG panel.

Mr Martin has very publicly engaged directly with the WoH group and others in a series of publicised meetings. Those not invited to such meetings include the Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors (ACCAS).

Despite being able to meet and discuss matters with members of the Women of Honour who are suing the State, when asked last month by the Irish Examiner why he won’t - however - meet ACCAS members, his staff said that it would be “inappropriate” for Mr Martin to even talk about them because some of them are . . . suing the State.

The article pointed out that a number of years ago, Mr Martin publicly demanded action on the “scandal” of what had happened in the Air Corps and he vowed - “because it is the right thing to do” - to support their cause even when he got into power.