Women of Honour group urges Martin to withdraw ‘slips, trips and falls’ comment

The Women of Honour group has expressed outrage over a “flippant remark” from Tanaiste Micheal Martin in response to its request to expand the terms of reference at a tribunal of inquiry into the Defence Forces.

The tribunal of inquiry will examine the effectiveness of the complaints processes in the Defence Forces in respect of workplace incidents relating to discrimination, bullying, harassment, sexual assault and rape.

The support group for former and current female Defence Force members who allege they were abused in the military has called for the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act to be explicitly included in the inquiry’s definition of complaints processes.

However, Mr Martin told the group in a letter on Thursday that this legislation cannot be included because it “would be very broad and could conceivably include ‘trips, slips and falls’ that may have occurred in the workplace”.

Mr Martin, who is also Minister for Defence, said he was satisfied the inquiry’s chairperson will have discretion to include “any applicable duty of care for employees” within the remit of the tribunal’s work.

On Monday, the Women of Honour group asked the Tanaiste to “immediately withdraw” his remark.

It accused Mr Martin of seeking to equate allegations of rape, sexual assaults and “other outrages” with low-level slips, trips and falls.

The group said: “His exclusion of the safe place of work entitlement and the covering letter from the Tanaiste minimising these extremely serious incidents and the culture that permits them, and comparing them with ‘slips, trips and falls’, are not acceptable. They need to be withdrawn immediately.”

A Department of Defence spokeswoman said it is “unfair” to suggest that the Tanaiste sought to equate serious incidents such as rapes and sexual assaults with slips, trips and falls.

In a statement, she said Mr Martin Tanaiste consulted extensively with the Attorney General to develop the draft terms of reference.

“The Tanaiste expressed concern that an explicit reference would considerably widen the scope of the terms of reference and emphasised that the tribunal will have regard to any and all relevant legislation provisions. This will be at the discretion of the judge who will be appointed as Chair of the Tribunal.”

It follows a letter to the group’s legal representative on Thursday, in which Mr Martin responded to several other proposed amendments from the Women of Honour.

The group had said limiting the inquiry to examining “complaints of abuse” rather than “incidents of abuse” will exclude the experiences of members who did not make a complaint due to fears of repercussions or a belief that there was no point.

While some of the group’s amendments have been applied, the Tanaiste told the group he cannot accept its proposed additional wording which he said would broaden the “definitions of abuse and complaints of abuse”.

Mr Martin said this was to ensure the tribunal is capable of completing its task of identifying systemic failures in the Defence Forces’ complaints process within a reasonable time frame.

The Women of Honour group has said the process of negotiating the terms of reference has been “long and frustrating”.

It said the terms still contain “blind spots” and has called for the matter to be arbitrated through the Department of the Taoiseach.

Mr Martin said he is “anxious” to finalise the terms of reference through a Government decision in the coming weeks.

Women of Honour said it is seeking immediate meetings with the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and Attorney General to “elicit an explanation of the Government’s motives” on the wording of the terms of reference.

In a statement, it said: “For us, it is unfathomable as to why there are exclusions of safety at work legislation where the State ought to recognise that each employee is entitled to a safe place of work having enacted such legislation.”

The current draft terms of reference state that the tribunal will investigate practices in the Defence Forces back to January 1 1983, including the nature and performance of the statutory role of ministers for defence and the department in the systems and procedures for dealing with complaints of abuse.

Women of Honour said this will include at least 20 former ministers for defence and four former and current taoisigh who served in that office.