Defence Forces Dail Éireann — 2021-09-30 ============================================================ Marian Harkin (IND), Sligo-Leitrim I have listened to the Minister's responses this morning and I am glad he has done a complete U-turn on the inquiry to be set up to investigate these allegations made by the Women of Honour. All of us were shocked and sickened that women of different ages had to go on public radio and bear their souls and private lives to bring about real change. When I heard a young member of the Defence Forces saying she was pinned against the counter and sexually assaulted, and all she could say to a senior officer was "Yes, Sir", it absolutely sickened me and I felt such rage and anger on her behalf. That is why I put down the detailed question to the Minister regarding the procedures and processes he will use to appoint people to this inquiry to make sure it is independent. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2021-09-30/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:38+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-09-30