Natasha O’Brien: Cathal Crotty’s dismissal the ‘bare minimum’

On Wednesday the Social Democrats party tabled a motion on zero tolerance for gender-based violence at the Irish parliament.

Their leader, Holly Cairns, said she is not confident the government will act.

“I think the situation in the defence forces actually epitomises the half-hearted approach by government because it’s replicated throughout society with the lack of regulations in lots of sectors,” she said.

“We have a situation now whereby Cathal Crotty has been discharged on account of the serious convictions he has.

“And then we have a situation where we know there are a number of other people in exactly the same situation except they’re still in uniform because it hasn’t been in the glare of the media spotlight.”

Ms Cairns said the fact that it takes a “media spotlight” for action to be taken “is an indictment of the defence forces and the government”.

A spokesperson for the Irish Defence Forces told the BBC News NI: “The Defence Forces unequivocally condemns any actions by serving personnel that are contrary to military regulations or that do not reflect our values.

“The Defence Forces does not comment on the specifics of individual cases.”