Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Members of the Oireachtas would be dismayed if they realised that a decision of Government on the recommendation of a Department almost ten years ago now has negatively affected mothers staying in State employment of their choice. That negative effect on State-employed mothers was not the intent of the Government decision but has become the unintended and regrettable outcome of it. It has not been brought to the attention of the Dáil or Seanad before now but I intend to rectify that today.

The mothers in question are the many former members of the Defence Forces for whom continuing their service as mothers post the disastrous 2012 reorganisation became untenable. It took some years for this particular law of unintended consequence to take effect on Defence Forces' mothers. Ireland assumed a rotating membership seat on the United Nations Security Council on 1 January of this year for a two-year duration. It is a singular honour and prestigious role for Ireland. The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, Deputy Simon Coveney, has outlined the ambitions of Ireland's tenure on the Security Council. He has informed us all of the policy issues he intends Ireland to have at the core of that ambition. One of the most prominent of those is to energetically advance the women, peace and security agenda, a core principle of the United Nations peace support operations since the passage of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on 31 October 2000.

The intent of Resolution 1325 is to enshrine in UN doctrine the necessity of more women to be deployed and exert positive influence on UN military operations in UN-mandated or authorised deployments. Ireland is rightly a steadfast and vocal supporter of the UN women, peace and security agenda. Ireland continuously repeated this commitment to Resolution 1325 when garnering support to be elected on the Security Council.

Due to time I cannot go as far as I would like to go but I ask that we have a debate in this House with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence to discuss this important issue. It has led to women who loved their careers in the Defence Forces being forced to retire. They were chucked around the country to fill gaps when they could not travel overseas and the reorganisation has caused a problem.