Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

This question was put down because an inquiry was received from some of the female members of the Defence Forces. As the Minister is probably aware, despite his campaign to enlist more females into the Defence Forces, in general, women are not overly enthusiastic about joining up. The Minister must give them every possible encouragement and this is one area where it is only common sense as female members of the Defence Forces would like, when serving their duties, to be able to wear their uniforms.

At this stage I understand that towards the end of pregnancy, women must wear civilian clothes as they cannot wear a uniform. It should be a very simple matter to design a uniform to accommodate these people. The special clothing committee could surely report on this very rapidly and its recommendation could be accepted by the Minister or chief of staff.

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