Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question and wish him the best of luck in his new role.

The 2016 general service recruitment competition closed to applicants on 22 May 2016. At the time of closing, there were 4,590 applications with 15% or 680 of applicants being female.

The Government is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for men and women throughout the Defence Forces and to the full participation by women in all aspects of Defence Forces activities.

A number of specific initiatives have been implemented to increase female participation in the Defence Forces, including: the Defence Forces have visited many female schools to promote a career in the Defence Forces to women; the Defence Forces have targeted female sports clubs to heighten awareness of the opportunities for women in the Defence Forces; female websites have been targeted as part of the recruitment campaigns; special consideration is paid to women as a target group for recruitment; there is a representative composition between men and women on recruitment and selection boards; and a gender adviser operates to promote gender equality policies and training within the Defence Forces.

Unlike many other national armed forces, the Defence Forces have no restrictions as regards the assignment of men or women to the full range of operational and administrative duties. Women, therefore, play a full and meaningful role in all aspects of Defence Forces operations at home and abroad.

Notwithstanding these recent proactive initiatives, I believe that there is a need to continue to develop and promote strategies that support increased female participation in the Defence Forces. The White Paper on Defence 2015 noted that "a key impediment in achieving greater numbers of women serving in the Defence Forces is the lack of women recruitment applicants relative to men".

Additional initiatives were undertaken since 2014 to promote a career in the Defence Forces to women through outreach to schools and to sports clubs and through social media. The recent 2016 campaign built on these initiatives and was designed specifically to target females through increased engagement in the recruitment process and competition advertising.

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