Equality legislation has forced the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, to reduce the height requirement for membership of the Army for male as well as female recruits.
Mr Smith told the Dáil he reduced the height requirement for female recruits to 5ft 4in. "I made that decision on the basis of discriminating in favour of women by reducing the height requirement for females below that which was required for male applicants.
"Unfortunately, under equality legislation I was forced to reduce it for males also. One might regard that as somewhat ridiculous, but it was the circumstance that prevailed under equality legislation."
There were 396 females in the Army, 22 in the Air Corps and 64 in the Naval Service."
Asked by the Labour defence spokesman, Mr Joe Sherlock, what target had been set for female membership of the Defence Forces, Mr Smith said the competition was open.
"Approximately 9 per cent of the applicants for Defence Forces jobs in the non-enlisted sectors are female, and around 9 per cent succeed in their applications. In the case of cadets, about 15 per cent are applicants and a little over 15 per cent succeed. We have no specific gender targets."
