Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Honestly, we are looking at all of these matters. One of the possibilities for the next few years, on the back of the commission report, is that we will see a radical restructuring of the Defence Forces, in particular the Army. We will see a new Army headquarters, a new defence headquarters, a new structure headed up by a chief of defence for the first time in Ireland. Senior decision makers in the Defence Forces will be civilians, such as head of transformation and head of HR management. The commission has set very ambitious targets for us in terms of encouraging more women into the Defence Forces. It is not just about women; it is also about young men coming into the Defence Forces. In order to do this, we have to respond to the new realities which are that people expect more flexibility, they expect a work-life balance to be a part of their work. The real challenge is how we marry that with military service, which is of course a different form of public service to anything else.

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