The following communication has been received by ARCO from the Defence Forces Liaison & Coordination Office for External Oversight Body & Tribunal of Inquiry:
I have been asked by the Chief of Staff to share our internal Defence Forces Notice regarding attending the DF Tribunal of Inquiry with you for your information and awareness. Attendance at the Tribunal of Inquiry may affect some of your members and the attached notice will provide background, context and information sources to assist those affected.
If you or any of your members are called by the Tribunal of Inquiry over the coming months you can get more information at the Tribunal of Inquiry website (www.toidf.ie) which contains detailed, definitive information on its procedures, FAQs and its contact details.
If you are invited to attend an interview with the Tribunal’s legal team during this phase, you can also contact the Defence Forces Liaison and Co-Ordination Office (LCO) at McKee Barracks, Dublin 7, D07 A065 in writing or by e-mail at DF_LCO@defenceforces.ie for more information.
Kind regards,
DF Liaison & Coordination Office for External Oversight Body & Tribunal of Inquiry
COS Division
DFHQ
ARCO has responded to this communication as follows:
Thank you for the information and update you have provided.
On 19 Oct 2024, the then Chief of Staff, Gen Sean Clancy, assured ARCO that any of our members who become ‘witnesses’ or ‘core participants’ in the Tribunal process, will receive support and representation from the Defence Forces’ Legal Team – see attached letter.
For clarification, can you confirm that where any retired member of the Defence Forces’ name and contact details have been disclosed, he/she will be informed by the Defence Forces?
In the event that a member of ARCO is contacted by the TOI, it would be helpful for our members if you could provide clarity on the issues listed below:
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- Will the TOI inform the retired Officer about the nature of their concern/investigation?
- Will the TOI provide that Officer with all the necessary paperwork relating to the issue of concern?
- When communicating with the Officer, will the TOI include the contact details of the DF Legal Support Team?
If the TOI does not notify the Officer of the contact details of the DF Legal Team, he/she will require immediate access to the DF legal support. For that reason ARCO would like to be provided those contact details so that we can inform our members.
ARCO looks forward to continued liaison with the DF Liaison and Coordination Office for External Oversight Body and Tribunal of Inquiry.
Thank you in advance for attending to our concerns listed above.
Members will be advised of updates in future postings.
