My priority as Minister for Defence is to ensure the operational capability of the Army, Air Corps and Naval Service is maintained to the greatest extent possible so as to enable the Defence Forces to carry out their roles as assigned by the Government, both at home and overseas. We are talking about women who were in the Defence Forces. The current establishment of the Defence Forces is 9,500.

My immediate focus is on stabilising the numbers of personnel in the Defence Forces and thereafter increasing strength to meet the agreed level of ambition arising from the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces. If we are to improve morale and look at the basic necessities that all people, including members of our Defence Forces, need, we need to look at issues such as Defence Forces accommodation. In the Report of the Commission on the Defence Forces, there is a target of 11,600.

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 6,349 words across 47 contributions by 8 speakers.