Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I acknowledge the investment in capital infrastructure, and it is long overdue and desperately needed, there is one concern that I want to flag with the Minister. It specifically relates to a new development at the Curragh Camp - Pearse Mess. I am looking at these plans as I speak. I am bewildered, after all the conversations that have taken place about the need to increase female participation in the Defence Forces, why there is such a disproportionately low number of facilities, not only bathroom facilities but changing facilities, in this mess. I do not profess or hold any claim to be an engineer but I struggle to understand how a female is meant to get to these places without having to physically leave the building and come around the other side. Not only that, and this is what is really disappointing, based on these plans, there is no capability to extend those facilities without cutting off access to the male section of that unit.

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