Programme 8: 2nd September 2007

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Programme 8: 2nd September 2007
Tom Clonan

In Lebanon and the former Yugoslavia, Irish soldier, Tom Clonan, had been shelled, shot at, and ambushed.  But nothing prepared him for the campaign of dirty tricks and character assassination he suffered at the hands of his own headquarters.  The campaign followed authorised doctoral research Clonan carried out that found that 59 of 60 women soldiers interviewed had suffered bullying or harassment in the army - up to and including attempted rape in the workplace.

The Army dismissed Clonan's findings, claiming in the media that he was a maverick; that the research was unauthorised; and the results fabricated.  Behind the scenes, officers from Defence Forces Headquarters demanded he publicly retract his findings, threatened him with 'every dirty trick in the book'.