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Irish Army Lieutenant Marie Carrigy Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland
no woman no cry
There are very, very few women in the Irish Army...
And none at all with rank more senior than lieutenant colonel.
8.45am, 21 Jun 2015
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THE DEFENCE FORCES currently have a gender imbalance of roughly 94% – 6% with males dominating.
No women whatsoever hold rank higher than that of lieutenant colonel in the Irish defence forces.
The information was released by defence minister Simon Coveney in response to a parliamentary question by Fine Gael TD for Kildare North Bernard Durkan.
“The Government is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for men and women throughout the Defence Forces and to the full participation by women in all aspects of Defence Forces activities,” said Coveney in response to the question.
Numbers of women in the Irish Defence Forces Oireachtas.ieOireachtas.ie
Currently women make up just 6.1% of our Defence Forces’ strength.
This is not a new trend – the numbers of women in the Defence Forces have been relatively static since 2010 at least.
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Tellingly, there are 48 men currently ranked at levels no enlisted women have managed to reach at present.
Meanwhile, there are 125 men ranked as lieutenant colonel – with just three women sharing the same rank, or 2.3%, an enormous imbalance.
And the figures appear to be getting even worse – the 563 women mentioned above as at end 2014 has actually decreased to 553 as at end April 2015.
Simon Coveney
The overall strength of the defence forces as such currently stands at 9,112, a deal short of the agreed stabilised strength of 9,500.
“It is intended that targeted recruitment will continue in 2015 and subsequent years to allow the Government meet this commitment in relation to the stabilised strength,” said Coveney.
Regarding the gender imbalance within the Defence Forces Coveney said:
I believe that a key issue in recruiting and retaining female personnel lies in societal perception and attitudes to female soldiers and officers. I am hopeful that through continued engagement and communication, this perception will change over time.
A number of specific initiatives have thus been implemented to increase ‘female participation’ in the Defence Forces:
The adjustment of physical standards for female applicants
Special consideration being paid to women as a target group for recruitment
A balanced composition between men and women on recruitment and selection boards
All promotions and career courses being open to both sexes on merit
A Gender Advisor being appointed to promote gender equality policies and training within the Defence Forces
Whether or not those initiatives can make any difference remains to be seen.
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We must build tens of thousands of homes to meet demand. One developer won’t solve anything. We have an apprenticeship shortage, skills shortage and social housing shortage.
Exactly were is there a demand? Outside of Dublin in most cases there is no demand for housing.
New houses in my town are selling for 100k -150k. They can’t give them away even though they are well built and finished.
If you think a company floating for 400 million is actually going to build houses then Jesus how naive is everyone , Hotels and conference center’s will be built by the dozen, and WHEN the company goes belly up we will have another ghost estate problem. But I’m guessing the element that actually believe we would have a soft landing in 2008 are still swallowing BS.
One new property developer/ builder entity about to enter Irish market, structured as a plc , with €400 m in equity capital, professionally run board comprised of directors who know how to assess risk, have respect for corporate governance, and with low reliance on short-term bank finance, and with access to residential sites under sensible, transparent and fair, financial arrangements with NAMA, hoping to sell on finished output at market price to a welcoming market………IMO such an entity is in with a fighting chance of cracking the nut job that is the Irish Residential Property Market.
Build and they will come they did the last time.
They came from all over Eastern Europe to build them and of course they need somewhere to stay so we will have to build more houses and apartments and so the circle will continue. Boom boom
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