Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the targets for females, the Defence Forces is an equal opportunities employer and all competitions for entry to the force are run on the basis of equality principles. When recruiting to the Defence Forces, recruitment is always undertaken to ensure the most suitable and qualified candidates come to the fore and gender does not play any role in how such posts are filled.

I take Deputy Deenihan's point that further efforts should be made, including promoting the Defence Forces through career guidance exhibitions, visits to schools and so on, which is important. I was involved in two commissioning ceremonies of the Reserve Defence Force. I noticed there was a much better balance between the sexes at those ceremonies than I had seen at other ceremonies.

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