Me Fein

national | crime and justice | other press Monday January 22, 2007 04:04 by Donal de Roiste - Human rights deroiste1 at gmail dot com Ballincollig, Cork 0863082315

Justice

Disciplinary procedures in Irish Defence Force faces overhaul
22/12/2006 - 17:49:2

I Donal Roche wish to have these standards applied to my case. Please visit my blog and ask your local politicians to do the right thing in 2007. How long must I wait for justice? Where are my former comrades in arms?

deroche.blogspot.com

Disciplinary procedures in the Irish Defence Forces are to be radically overhauled.

The new system will mirror the civil legal process in a military environment.

I have been struggling for nearly 40 years to clear my name but have been denied fair hearing and fair procedures by the Irish state. Don Mullan's book "Speaking Truth to Power" shows how lies and obfusaction were used to block my struggle and how I was framed. Though my army 'retirement' was used against my sister Adi Roche in her 1997 presidential election and though I was fired by President de Valera there is no mechanism whereby I can obtain justice in Ireland it seems. In the current peace process there is to be no peace for me. Individual rights don't count! I ask all lovers of truth and justice to urge their politicians to support my call for implementation of the 2005 High Court judgement in my favour. If the standards announced below were applied in my case I would not even have been arrested. I was never charged, tried or convicted of any crime yet my whole career and good name are destroyed in perpetuam. Let justice be seen to de done in the de Roiste case. I am an innocent man!

Disciplinary procedures in Irish Defence Force faces overhaul
22/12/2006 - 17:49:23

Disciplinary procedures in the Irish Defence Forces are to be radically overhauled.

The new system will mirror the civil legal process in a military environment.

Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has published the new Defence Bill and will present it to the Dáil early in the New Year.

It amounts to the biggest change in the system of military law for more than 50 years, and takes account of developments both in Ireland and internationally.

The Bill gives the right in every case for a person charge with an offence to elect for trial by court martial at the outset, and also sets out the kind of disciplinary offences that can be dealt with without trial.

There's a new right to appeal any determination or punishment handed out directly.

There are changes to the scale of punishments a commanding officer can hand out including the abolition of their right to award detention.

An independent Director of Military Prosecutions is being established, to perform a similar job in the court martial system as the DPP does in the civil system

An independent military judicial office is also being set up, with a similar role to judges.