{"id":517994,"date":"2026-06-25T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517994\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T16:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:27:08","slug":"i-walked-into-hell-recruit-tells-defence-forces-tribunal-of-being-tortured-not-trained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/517994\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I walked into hell\u2019: Recruit tells Defence Forces Tribunal of being \u2018tortured, not trained\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recruits to the Defence Forces\u2019 Apprentice School in the 1980s and 1990s were \u201ctortured, not trained\u201d, the Defence Forces Tribunal<\/a> has been told.<\/p>\n

Recalling the day he joined the 34th Platoon at Devoy Barracks in Naas, Co Kildare, in September 1989 at the age of 16, Denis Kennedy said: \u201cI walked into hell.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told the tribunal he witnessed a senior officer \u2014 known as 2LTB and who cannot be named for legal reasons \u2014 assaulting him and other recruits, including kicking a fellow recruit in the ribs as he did press-ups.<\/p>\n

He also said he saw the officer order another recruit to eat cigarettes<\/a> from \u201cthe dregs of an ashtray\u201d.<\/p>\n

Tribunal may trigger Garda probe into historic child abuse claims<\/p>\n

The Defence Forces Tribunal could lead to a Garda investigation into historic child abuse, it has emerged.<\/p>\n

The tribunal heard that Tusla, the child and family agency, has recommended that assaults and abuse allegedly carried out by officers should be reported to garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n

Ms Justice Ann Power, the sole member of the tribunal, was told by Denis Kennedy they had been instructed to inform garda\u00ed about what had happened, as it was considered \u201cchild abuse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy, who joined aged 16 in September 1989, said he had been encouraged to contact a therapist to discuss the alleged abuse he endured at Devoy Barracks in the 1980s and 1990s.<\/p>\n

After he gave his evidence on Thursday, he was asked whether he had ever considered making a formal complaint about his treatment.<\/p>\n

He said his therapist had gone to Tusla, which informed her that his experience constituted \u201chistoric child abuse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy told the judge: \u201cShe recommended it be reported to garda\u00ed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After giving evidence, he told the Irish Examiner: \u201cI am going to wait to get the tribunal out of the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all very new and as this is what has been recommended, this is what I am now considering doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I am unlikely to be the only one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were 13 16-year-olds in the 34th Platoon, 22 17-year-olds, and 20 recruits aged 18.<\/p>\n

One of Mr Kennedy\u2019s closest friends, Oliver Mullaney, died by suicide on June 22, 1991, two days after allegedly being repeatedly humiliated by 2LTB.<\/p>\n

Previous witnesses to the tribunal have said 2LTB ordered Mr Mullaney to not only dance on a chair but also kiss another recruit.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy said the abuse was widely known about, telling tribunal senior counsel Michael Cush that more senior officers above 2LTB would have been aware.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would have been well aware,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were watching, they were well aware.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asked about the most senior rank to have known, he said it was the \u201ccommanding officer\u201d \u2014 meaning at least a lieutenant colonel.<\/p>\n

The tribunal later heard that the unnamed commanding officer has denied being aware of the abuse suffered by Mr Mullaney.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy said the only time he raised a complaint about his treatment was in relation to food.<\/p>\n

He recalled when he found \u201cbrown cod worms\u201d in fish battered with cornflakes that were being fed to recruits.<\/p>\n

He said he complained to 2LTB, telling the tribunal he was laughed at by kitchen staff after the officer spoke to them about his complaint.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy said: \u201dSomething inside me broke that day. We were malnourished with the standard of food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were starving and it was just the last straw for me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He recalled being asked by 2LTB to give him the names of fellow recruits who had been late back to the camp.<\/p>\n

When he refused, Mr Kennedy said the officer ordered him to go and fetch a ball he then threw to the other side of Devoy Barracks main square.<\/p>\n

After returning with the ball, the officer again asked him to name names. When he refused, he again threw the ball back and ordered him to fetch it.<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt he was being \u201ctreated like a dog\u201d, he said it was worse, as \u201cyou\u2019d probably give a dog a drink of water, but there was none of that\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy eventually had to give up as he was later diagnosed as suffering from heat stroke and dehydration.<\/p>\n

Mr Kennedy told the tribunal that after Mr Mullaney died, a senior officer held a meeting with recruits and his death was referred to as an \u201caccident\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recruits were told \u201cnot to mention it was suicide\u201d because his family \u201cwouldn\u2019t be entitled to any army insurance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Tom Hogan, on behalf of 2LTB, addressed Mr Kennedy and reminded him that his client denies all allegations of abuse being made by recruits.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing has been or will be proven in the tribunal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The tribunal continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recruits to the Defence Forces\u2019 Apprentice School in the 1980s and 1990s were \u201ctortured, not trained\u201d, the Defence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517995,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13308,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-517994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-defence-forces","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}