UN opens investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by Irish peacekeepers

The United Nations (UN) has opened a formal investigation into allegations of sexual offending and misconduct by Irish soldiers serving in Lebanon.

The allegations were first raised in 2021 by retired Army sergeant Anthony O’Brien who, over the past two years, has been gathering historical reports of sexual abuse by military personnel or on military property.

The allegations relate to sexual abuse of both male and female soldiers, often by senior personnel, and abuse of children in the residential area of the Curragh Camp in Kildare over decades.

The accounts were sent to Minister for Defence Simon Coveney last year, who then sent them on to the Garda. He also ordered that they be treated as protected disclosures under whistleblower legislation.

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Last month Mr Coveney also announced there would be an independent assessment of the how the sexual abuse allegations have been handled to date.

Senior counsel Ruth Fitzgerald was being appointed to "conduct an independent assessment of the specific actions taken by the Department of Defence and the Defence Forces". The outcome will be made available to the planned judge-led inquiry into a separate set of military sexual abuse allegations made by the Women of Honour group.

Mr O’Brien has also been corresponding with the UN regarding alleged incidents of sexual misconduct by Irish soldiers serving on peacekeeping missions in Lebanon.

These include accounts he gathered of an alleged rape of a female Irish solider by a male colleague and the alleged repeated sexual harassment of another female soldier.

Allegations

Another third-party account detailed allegations that four male soldiers drugged and rape two female colleagues. Some of these allegations were read into the Dáil record last year by Sinn Féin TD Patricia Ryan.

Mr O’Brien also included an account of an Irish non-commissioned officer abusing two young children at a checkpoint in Lebanon. The correspondence included details of the incidents but did not include supporting evidence.

On Wednesday Mr O’Brien received a reply from the Investigations Division of the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) stating it had been assigned to conduct “an authorised investigation into a report of possible misconduct”.

It said the investigation “concerns a report of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse implicating military personnel from the Irish Contingent serving within Lebanon” and that Mr O’Brien has been identified as a possible witness. He is due to be interviewed by an investigator next week.

The OIOS is authorised to conduct investigations into “unsatisfactory conduct and misconduct” by officials on UN duty, including those on peacekeeping duty. According to its mandate misconduct includes sexual harassment, sexual abuse and “acts or behaviour that would discredit the United Nations”.

If misconduct is found, the OIOS can institute disciplinary action or, in some circumstances, refer a report to national authorities.

The office has previously conducted investigations into large-scale sexual abuse and gold and weapons smuggling by other country's peacekeepers in Congo.