Minister seeks 'greater opportunities' for women in Irish Defence Forces

Ireland's Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has said that he wants to see greater recruitment of women and greater opportunity for promotion within the ranks.

The Minister was speaking following a recent visit to Dun Ui Mhaoiliosa (Mellows Barracks) in Renmore, Galway.

Minister O'Dea said: "Throughout my nationwide tour of barracks I have been struck by the sheer professionalism and dedication of our Defence Force personnel. The Irish Defence Forces have seen huge improvements and development since the publication of the White Paper on Defence back in 2000. We are now exactly half way through that programme and I am extremely pleased to report that my department's commitments in that Paper are being met to deadline.

"The significant level of investment by this Government into the Irish Defence Forces has ensured the quality of training, equipment and facilities have improved dramatically over the past eight years and morale has never been higher. Nonetheless, during the course of my nationwide tour of barracks and one-to-one discussions with troops on the ground I have been struck by two key areas in which I believe more work needs to be done: greater recruitment of women; and greater opportunities for promotion from within the ranks."

Mr O'Dea said that the number of woman recruited each year was in direct proportion to the number of women applying - approximately 9% - and that while a lot was being done to encourage more women to apply, he intended to "review the measures in place over the coming weeks with a view to maximising the number of women applicants into the Irish Defence Forces".

He added: "As a former Junior Minister with responsibility for Equality issues, I have considerable experience in this area. I believe it is important for me now in my capacity as Minister for Defence to ensure a career for women in the Defence Forces is fully promoted and encouraged for the benefit of this country as a whole.

"I am also determined to see that more is done to remove the glass ceiling to promotion in the army. Every private soldier joining the army should have a reasonable expectation of being promoted to senior officer level by virtue of his ability and character. There should not and must not be any hint or taint of eliteism in the modern Irish army."

Minister O'Dea said that work on this issue was ongoing as part of the Integrated Personnel Management System (IPMS), but he wanted to see speedier progress on the implementation of a more active programme of commissioning from the ranks.

He said that he would be reviewing "in detail" the work undertaken in this area.

(SP)