The issue of inter personal behaviour in all its formats within the Defence Forces is of the utmost importance to me and criminal activity of any nature will not be tolerated within the Defence Forces. Whether an allegation is of a minor or a major nature there are a number of ways in which it can be investigated. These are covered by statutory and regulatory provisions and range from low level informal interventions to prosecution. Defence Forces personnel may make a complaint of an alleged breach of criminal law to an Garda Síochána.
Members of the Defence Forces can avail of Personnel Support Services (PSS) which provides information, assistance and counselling on a range of matters including interpersonal problems. As part of the PSS office, civilian social workers are also available to support Defence Forces personnel. In addition an independent and strictly confidential 24 hour care-line, manned by trained counsellors, is available to all Defence Forces personnel. Face-to-face counselling can then be provided to individuals if required.
The function of the Medical Corps of the Defence Forces is to provide medical services to serving members of the Defence Forces and, where required, any serving member of the Defence Forces can be referred to psychiatry services, normally through a Medical Officer or contract General Practitioner.
The question posed by the Deputy seeks data over a period of almost 27 years. In the context of the question posed, the phrase “sexual abuse” is descriptive in nature and may not reflect the categorisation used to collate statistics. However, I have asked my civil and military officials to assess what information can be collated which could satisfy all the data requested and I will revert to the Deputy on this point.