The Irish Defence Forces is still a "dangerous place" for women, according to former soldier and whistleblower Karina Molloy.

Appearing on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show last night to discuss her new book, A Woman in Defence: A Soldier's Story of the Enemy Within the Irish Army, she recounted the humiliation, bullying, sexual assaults and abuse she endured during her 31-year career as a soldier in the Irish Defence Forces.

As one of the first of 38 female recruits into the Irish army back in 1981, she said she and her female colleagues were seen as outliers by their male colleagues.

"We were treated like unicorns," she told host Ryan Tubridy.

At best, they were subjected to constant micro-aggressions and passive-aggressive bullying by their male colleagues, such as being sneered at or the room suddenly going silent when they entered the mess hall, she said.

Aside from being initially forced to wear frilly white knickers underneath skimpy tennis-style skirts as part of their PE gear she said the attitude of their male colleagues and superiors was "you're here for the men's pleasure".

But as her career progressed and she was one of the first women to be promoted to a Senior Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) rank, the bullying worsened, she said.

While she was on a course that she needed to take in order to get promoted, she recounted how a male officer deliberately groped her between the legs when she was training in a swimming pool. Despite this "I was roared at to stay in the water", she said.

Later, she learned from her boyfriend at the time who was also in the army, that the officer who groped her was heard bragging about the assault in the mess hall. Yet when she tried to report it, she was told that her boyfriend - who had a verbal confrontation with the officer in question - would be charged with assault if she took the matter further, she said.

However, things took an even darker turn when her commanding officer, whom she referred to as Officer X and described as being very flamboyant with an attitude that he was “untouchable”, constantly made sinister sexual comments about her that culminated one night when he showed up roaring drunk at her door and attempted to rape her.

"My saving grace was he was very, very drunk," she said of being able to push him off her and run for help.

Yet when she reported the incident to her colleagues, they were more concerned about his reputation and being seen staggering around drunk, she said.

Worst of all, nothing was ever done about it, she said.

"I reported it and reported it and nothing happened," she said.

Despite the abuse, Ms Molloy rose through the ranks and set a record for the most overseas tours as a female senior NCO to date.

"The army was my career, was my love," she said when asked why she didn't leave the force.

However, she stressed that she also wanted to remain in the Defence Forces in order to "fix it from within".

But she said the same issues she dealt with during her long career, remain.

Asked "is the army still a dangerous place for women?", she replied: "Yes."

She added that after she featured in a documentary on RTÉ Radio One called Women of Honour by broadcaster Katie Hannon which painted a grim picture of life for serving female soldiers, she was "flooded with calls" from other female soldiers who had similar experiences.

Some of the victims who featured in the September 2021 documentary spoke of suffering from depression, eating disorders and suicidal ideations as a result of their experiences or they were simply forced to leave.

Yet since the programme aired, little has changed, she added.