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A CONFIDENTIAL CONTACT Person is to be appointed to assist former and serving members of the Defence Forces affected by bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and gender discrimination.
It comes after Minister for Defence and Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney met with five women who took part in the RTÉ documentary Women of Honour in which allegations were made of bullying, harassment, sexual assault and rape within the Defence Forces.
Coveney announced today a Confidential Contact Person (CCP) will be available to former and serving members on a confidential basis.
This person will listen and assist members “in documenting their allegations and to provide guidance on follow-on options open to them,” the Department said in a statement.
“These options will differ depending on whether the individual involved is a serving or former member of the Defence Forces and on the nature of the allegations.
“This will allow each individual to make an informed decision in relation to next steps regarding their allegations. The CCP is entirely independent and outside of the Defence Forces Chain of Command.”
The role has been set up following an agreement with Raiseaconcern, an organisation working with private sector and public bodies on issues relating to workplace wrongdoing.
Raiseaconcern will provide Coveney with periodic updates on the number and types of cases and issues they are seeing, but strictly on an anonymised basis. This information will also inform the Independent Review process, which is due to begin before the end of the year.
Coveney said today his Department and the Defence Forces are engaging with the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre in terms of assistance for both serving and former personnel who have suffered sexual harassment, sexual assault, or rape.
“I have consistently said that such serious allegations should be reported to the Gardaí without delay, as they are the competent authority to investigate such actions,” the Minister said.
“However, I am fully cognisant of the trauma suffered by the victims and I am pleased and grateful that the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, who are professionally trained in this area, have offered their services, in cooperation with my Department and the Defence Forces, to both serving and former members of the Defence Forces.”
Meanwhile , rank and file members of the Irish Defence Forces will discuss internal complaints mechanisms and the Women of Honour scandal at their annual conference this week.
PDFORRA represents all ranks in the non-commissioned elements of the army, navy and air corps – its annual conference began in Killarney yesterday.
The three-day meeting will see 150 delegates gather to discuss the worsening retention crisis, access to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, allowances and the use of the European Working Time agreement.
Contracts for personnel who joined post 1994 is seen as a major issue among members as it could see personnel across all branches being forced to retire, and deplete the ranks further.
There will also be discussions around the administration of complaints by members, and other service matters. Contained within that discussion will be the allegations of sexual harassment made by female members against senior officers.
Coveney confirmed last week that independent experts will carry out a review into abuse experienced in the Defence Forces. The minister met with participants from the Women of Honour group and with a group of serving female members of the Defence Forces.
The women, who alleged they were sexually assaulted and discriminated against while serving in the Irish Defence Forces, had called for an independent inquiry into the allegations.
With reporting by Niall O’Connor
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I really appreciate your advice every week I’m a gardener in my 60s and learn something new every week
The follow the sun because one side of the plant grows faster than the other depending on the sun’s location and that pulls the plant around.
It is far more likely that it is in response to a daily rhythm that we experience,of course for different reasons -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfBsWFfWkGE
Sunflowers are far smarter than some Journal readers who insist on following an impossibility , after all, the sun rise and sets each day in response to one rotation -
” It is a fact not generally known that,owing to the difference between solar and sidereal time,the Earth rotates upon its axis once more often than there are days in the year” Harvard
@Jenny mcCarty: It is rare to encounter a person who can reason properly and have some sense of why our nation and the international community ended up with horrific notions such as one weekday and one rotation are not the same thing. I have dealt with these issues for many years and I am familiar with where people jumped the tracks, in this case they modelled rotation using a clock and came up with a value less than 24 hours with the accumulation over the year giving them one more rotation than weekdays. Common sense should intervene but these people are unapologetic while the young sunflowers simply fix their gaze on the central and stationary Sun and allow the rotation of the Earth to do the work once each weekday and every weekday.
@Gerald Kelleher: research flat earth and you’ll have a perfectly valid reason as to why sunflowers follow the path of the sun
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