Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

Question 7: To ask the Minister for Defence what efforts are being made to evolve the Defence Forces into an ethnically diverse military; his views on whether it is necessary to target recruitment from among ethnic minorities and other nationalities to acquire invaluable specialist linguistic and cultural knowledge for the Army's missions at home and abroad; if he will set a specific target for increasing the numbers of non-nationals and members of ethnic minorities to be recruited to the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7169/06]

See this speech in context