Commandant Jayne Lawlor:

Sorry; internally displaced personnel. It refers to refugees who have not crossed a border. The women and children were leaving the IDP camps to go to the local towns and villages to sell their wares or to buy food and necessities for their families, but once they were away from the camp and the protection ceased, they were being abused and raped. There was no protection afforded to them. One of the Irish soldiers, who happened to be a female soldier, was in the camps one day on official business and she was approached by a person from a non-governmental organisation who brought what was happening to her attention. Until we were told about it we were not aware of it.

There are two aspects to this, first, having a female peacekeeper present and the fact that the NGO found it much easier to approach a female. The second aspect is that when she returned, she brought the issue to the attention of the commanders and a very simple plan was put in place whereby the Irish patrolled those roads on the day. Their presence was a show of force and as a result the women could go about their local business in a protected fashion. It is a very simple example but highlights an easy way of how we go about the business.

On what does the Defence Forces action plan on implementing Resolution 1325 concentrate or how do we go about implementing gender perspective? The key is education. From the day one joins the Defence Forces until one becomes a general, when one gets promoted and does a career course one has gender awareness, gender-based violence or sexual exploitation and abuse lectures at every stage. The lectures are tailored to one's rank and experience to ensure one is not getting the same lecture repeatedly.

On pre-deployment training, before we send people overseas, they receive six hours of human rights training and specific gender training. That covers basic gender awareness but it also covers gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse.

We discuss issues such as codes of conduct including concrete measures to ensure the soldiers know the behaviour that is acceptable and unacceptable. We have turned the UN blue card, which is a list of "do's" and "don'ts", into an Irish soldier's card and made it much more personal to us. That outlines the behaviour that is and is not acceptable.

In terms of when I talk to the soldiers, it is a male-dominated and quite macho environment, but I use that to my advantage and appeal to the protective nature of each soldier going out on missions. I tell them that the onus is on every one of them to be aware of these issues and look out for human trafficking, gender-based violence and systematic rape and then take appropriate action, whether that is reported up the chain of command or, if possible, to intervene on the ground. That depends on our mandate at the time.

The third point is integrating a gender perspective. I am operating at Defence Forces headquarters level. We also have other gender advisers operating at the brigade and formation levels, and then we have gender focal points operating at the lowest unit level. They are people who have a greater awareness of gender issues and they are then able to implement a gender perspective at the lowest level at all times.

As for the greatest challenge in the future, probably the biggest point brought home to us in the mid-term review was about increasing female participation in the Defence Forces. Obviously, the female members of the joint committee will be aware of the challenges of recruiting female personnel into certain fields, as well as their retention in those fields. This is something on which I have been working extensively. At the beginning of this year, we wrote to 400 schools and personally visited 140 schools, targeting female personnel and explaining to them what the Defence Forces can offer as a career and how it is something they should consider. It is a challenge, particularly because we have full equality and full integration of our female personnel. Consequently, we must ensure we are getting the right standard of person who is able to do the physical aspect of our job without dropping our standards. That is my greatest challenge for the future and I thank members for their time.