Professor Brian MacCraith:

We listened very carefully to what Deputy Berry had to say. Those were statements rather than questions, as such. Balance is important. We listened to the Deputy’s points, and we probably need to get the transcript to capture all of them.

The Deputy mentioned the crèche issue. Generalising that in terms of attracting, retaining and getting more females promoted upward, which will be important for the future of the Defence Forces, I refer to the concept of a more family-friendly environment with regard to rules and regulations.

One thing which has come up a few times with us in respect of promotions and training courses is the fact that the mother of a young family in the Defence Forces might have to spend six months away where the amenities afforded by digital technology and the flexibilities of online learning are perhaps not being used as much as they could be to facilitate such a person. There are things around that, which have happened in many other sectors, whereby this sort of transformation, which facilitates women in particular to move up the promotion ladder has happened. Some of the interventions, as suggested by Deputy Berry, can be quite simple and straightforward. We have not come to the detail of that yet and it is certainly part of our initial discussions. When we come to that, that is certainly something we will be looking at. We will take what the Deputy has said on board and we will go back, look at it and read it carefully but I believe we are hearing the points he is making about taking a balanced look at matters.