Defence Matters: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-25
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Tom Clonan (IND), University of Dublin

I am posing a hypothetical question to illustrate the point that by removing the triple lock the Minister will allow a community of decision-makers who are unaccountable, do not come to the committee and do not answer our questions to make decisions like that. Their track record of decision making has been absolutely catastrophic for the State, our Defence Forces and our security. We are Europe’s weakest link because of the decisions of that community of decision-makers that the Minister is asking us to trust in the absence of a triple lock. The Minister keeps talking about peacekeeping. Stop. She is incorrect. It is peace enforcement – it is war fighting - Chapter VII - like Afghanistan or when the Implementation Force, IFOR, became the Stabilisation Force, SFOR. They very often expand into full-time combat operations. SFOR bombed Serbia. It bombed the Chinese embassy and blew up a television station. Is that what the Minister wants us to get involved in without the protection of the triple lock? Because, by default, that is what she is suggesting.
I have other points but I am running out of time. On culture, I published a doctoral thesis 25 years ago which set out in forensic detail all of the problems and solutions around culture in the Defence Forces. I brought into the public domain the systematic and systemic sexual violence against male and female troops and the bullying and harassment and discrimination. Here we are 25 years later. The Women of Honour came forward with fresh disclosures and reinforced that the culture has not changed. The independent review group described the Defence Forces as a culture that barely tolerated women and saw them as less than human. We now have a judge-led inquiry sitting in Smithfield to try to answer the questions that I answered 25 years ago in black and white. In that 25 years not one person from the Department of Defence or from Óglaigh na hÉireann has ever asked me for an input or my advice. Not once. In that time there has been no harm reduction. Hundreds and hundreds of young men and women, sailors, soldiers and air crew, have had their lives altered, in many cases leading to suicide-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:41+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-25