Defence Forces
Dail Éireann — 2024-01-23
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I am surprised with what the Deputy said and I do not think it is fair. There has been full respect on my side and there has been ongoing engagement. We actually met in January but the Deputy seems to suggest the last meeting was in December. We met again, we reflected, we changed and we made further inclusions, particularly in respect of the hazardous chemicals issue in Baldonnel. We changed on the instances issue. We dealt with that. People will be able to come forward and discuss what happened to them within the context of how the complaints system worked. We also included the issue of whether people were deterred or intimidated from making complaints. There was the question of reprisals, if they happened. All that is in the terms of reference.
The only outstanding issue when we concluded was that the Women of Honour's view on the random selection was that the judge had the authority, if she wished to exercise it. It is clear to me that the judge will hear all cases, but, for instance, if there are thousands of cases coming in, one has to make a provision for the judge to take a selection and to say that she can make conclusions in respect of what she has heard. The judge is very clear that she wants to hear all the people who come forward. That was the only issue. The idea of a random selection came from the legal representative of the Women of Honour in the first instance and we thought it was a good idea because it was trying to broaden out some aspects of the terms of reference.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-01-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-01-23