Women of Honour seek meeting with Taoiseach and Attorney General

Michael Bolton

The Women of Honour group, who represent former and current members of the Defence Forces, have called for a meeting with the Taoiseach and the Attorney General.

They have requested the meeting to discuss the possibility of removing Tánaiste Micheál Martin from the current process of setting up the Defence Forces tribunal.

The group claim the Tánaiste's role as Minister for Defence conflicts with the tribunal in the first place, and have called for an independent party present.

This follows criticism from the Women of Honour group after a “flippant remark” from the Tánaiste in response to its request to expand the terms of reference at a tribunal of inquiry into the Defence Forces.

The group called for the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act to be explicitly included in the inquiry’s definition of complaints processes.

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”.

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

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