Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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348. To ask the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the number of women and ethnic minorities in the Defence Forces, Naval Service and Air Corps in 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form. [26143/22]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The military authorities have advised that they do not collect details pertaining to the ethnicity of recruits to the Defence Forces. Potential applicants from alll ethnic backgrounds are included in the target demographic that the Defence Forces seek to reach in regular recutiment campaigns.

The female strengths of the Defence Forces, broken down by the Branches within the Permanent Defence Force [PDF] and the Reserve Defence Force [RDF]), are set out in the table below:

*As at 30^thApril 2022

The Government remains committed to a policy of equal opportunity for men and women throughout the Defence Forces and a number of initiatives have been implemented to increase the level of female participation. In addition, in the context of the White Paper on Defence, a specific project is ongoing to conduct a survey to identify any impediments to the advancement of women in the Permanent Defence Force.