Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the family-friendly initiatives, which has been taken up by many of female personnel, is the option to serve three months overseas instead of six months. It is a great initiative but the Defence Forces are currently working on a number of other initiatives to raise the awareness among Irish society that all roles and operational appointments are open to women. To this end, the Defence Forces have employed civilian experts to assist with marketing campaigns and gender-specific messaging. The Defence Forces have developed a number of family friendly initiatives for the good of the organisation that have been taken up by a large number of female personnel. There is no doubt that women bring a different dimension to peacekeeping operations while abroad, compared to some of their male counterparts. When one witnesses at first-hand the participation of women in peacekeeping duties when they go in to the villages and towns, and the way they are able to interact with the locals and with the male and female leaders of communities, we see that these personnel really play a very important role. We are taking this issue very seriously indeed.

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