Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State mentioned in reply to Deputy Durkan some of the initiatives to increase female participation in respect of recruitment. We are failing abysmally against the international metric. The total of females in our Defence Forces is approximately 6.5%, which is way below international norms. The figure for the US is 16%; New Zealand, 17%; Canada, 15%; and Britain, 9%. Female participation in the Air Corps specifically is below 5% while it is approximately 7% in the Army and the Navy. According to figures received by my colleague, Deputy Lisa Chambers, there was a 9.7% female recruitment rate last year within the Defence Forces, which does not even match the norms in the countries I have mentioned. Clearly, therefore, we need a greater recruitment initiative which involves more than just contacting the GAA or other sports clubs. We need to do more to increase female participation because this will have a drag effect if we want to try to increase the percentage in years to come. A 9.7% rate last year is not good enough. We should seek at the very least to match international norms in respect of recruitment in order that we increase the number of females in the Defence Forces.

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