Coeliac disease is essentially incompatible with satisfactory military service, the House was told. There can be no guarantee of continued supply of any essential dietary requirements while on operational duty, the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, said.
On UN operations such as in East Timor "personnel are out all night and do not know when they will get back with bridges down" and there were so many different circumstances where dietary needs could not be secured.
"Many events can overtake such supply operations resulting in cut-offs or interruptions to supplies and in the case of coeliac disease sufferers, such an interference with supply could have very detrimental effects and very serious consequences," he added.
He was, however, anxious to have a review "across the board" and would take the situation into consideration as part of that review.
The issue was raised by Fine Gael's Equality spokeswoman, Ms Frances Fitzgerald, in light of a case before the courts. She said the Defence Forces were outside the remit of equality legislation and in effect made their own policy in these areas.
"This type of issue raises serious questions about people's rights and about how we conduct our affairs in the Defence Forces," she said.