Irish military justice under scrutiny and change

The Irish Examiner reports that Courts martial [are] 'designed to make problems go away' and avoid scandal. Mick Clifford, 15 October 2023.

It remains to be seen if faith among the Defence Forces in the court martial system can be restored. But one of the aims of a forthcoming bill is to ensure that gardaí, and not the military, will have sole jurisdiction within the state to investigate alleged sexual offences committed by those subject to military law, writes Mick Clifford.

Unfortunately, there is no specific reference or link to the "the Bill." We think this is what is being referred to: Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023.

The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has secured government approval to publish a wide-ranging new Bill that strengthens the law around sexual offences and improves protections for victims of sexual offences and of human trafficking.

Among the main provisions of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Human Trafficking) Bill 2023 is a strengthening of the law in relation to consent.

At present, a person can be found not guilty of rape if they honestly, but mistakenly, believed that they had the consent of the victim.

The law is subjective. In effect, the alleged perpetrator can claim they are not guilty of rape because they honestly but mistakenly believed they had consent.

The new Bill from Minister McEntee, a key element of her Zero Tolerance Plan to tackle Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence will change this.

The question now will be whether the belief is one that a reasonable person would have held in the circumstances, rather than whether such belief was honestly held.

This belief must be objectively reasonable rather than subjective.

From Department of Justice published on 12 July 2023. Last updated on 11 August 2023.