Defence Forces

1 contribution · 1 speaker · 316 words

Q83 FF Aindrias Moynihan to the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence

83. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the number of females who applied under the most recent Defence Forces recruitment campaign; how many of these are progressing through the recruitment stages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42599/23]

Summary of this debate

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For example, 2,399 candidates, of whom 323 were female, did not attend for psychometric testing, which is the first stage in the recruitment process following the submission of an eligible application. The military authorities keep all aspects of recruitment under ongoing review to ensure they determine effectively a candidate's suitability for entry to the Defence Forces.

A specialist external company has recently been retained to validate and assess the Defence Forces current recruitment process and the candidate's recruitment journey in the Naval Service. This will entail best practice research to identify possible opportunities for improvement of the current Defence Forces recruitment process, and an examination of the causes for the drop-off at various stages.

Built by scoring every sentence in the debate on how distinctive its language is, then quoting the highest-scoring ones back word for word and in the order spoken. Nothing is paraphrased or invented — if a sentence appears here, it was said in the chamber. Drawn from 316 words across 1 contributions by 1 speakers.

Most used terms in this debate

How often each word appears across the whole debate, ranked by how distinctive it is to it rather than common to all parliamentary language.

recruitment 10

psychometric 2

female 4

candidate's 2

defence 5

forces 4

military 3

applications 4

process 6

naval 2

female-specific 1

candidates 2

The full debate

All 1 contribution, start to finish, in the order they were made.

FF Micheál Martin

The military authorities have advised that, as of 31 August 2023, 6,844 initial applications had been made to join the Permanent Defence Force across all competitions, of which 858 were from female applicants. Of these applications, 6,081 were deemed eligible applications. A total of 244 personnel have been inducted as of the same date, of whom 18 are female. In addition to ineligible applications, a large number of candidates fail to attend or are unsuccessful at various stages of the selection process. For example, 2,399 candidates, of whom 323 were female, did not attend for psychometric testing, which is the first stage in the recruitment process following the submission of an eligible application.

The military authorities keep all aspects of recruitment under ongoing review to ensure they determine effectively a candidate's suitability for entry to the Defence Forces. On this basis, psychometric testing in the Naval Service general service recruitment was paused in June 2023, on a pilot basis, for six months. An analysis of the revised approach will take place that will inform future decisions on this process. Fitness test scoring has also been amended to a traffic light system, where reduced capacity does not necessarily preclude an individual from the recruitment process.

Efforts to increase the number of female applicants is continuing, with special consideration being paid to women as a target group for recruitment in the general recruitment framework. Military management advises that a female-specific recruitment team is being established with the aim of highlighting the career opportunities available for women in the Defence Forces.