Charting a new course

THIS MONTH marks the 16th anniversary of women in the Irish Naval Service.

Although the rules changed in 1994, it was another year before the first successful candidates came ‘on board’. Females now make up 7% of the current staff of 1,009 and their duties include everything from charting courses across the Atlantic to boarding fishing vessels, and fixing machinery in the engine room.

The LE Eithne stood tall and proud in Cobh when we joined her on a sunny day recently. The water was calm as the sailors prepared to set sail and, quite literally, show us ‘civvies’ the ropes.

Sub-lieutenant Stephen Stack offered us a genuine welcome at the gangway onto the ship. After signing in the quarter master’s log book, we headed straight for the officer’s dining room. Awaiting the arrival of Lieutenant Commander Erika Downing, we enjoyed first class service navy-style, by S/Lt Stack and his colleague Donnacadh Cahalane. The ship rolled gently on the sea, the engines hummed and we were off.

Roberta O’Brien, former captain of the LE Aisling, was one of the first women to sign up in 1995 and is currently working as the navy press officer. From the start, she knew she wanted a life on the high seas. “After considering PE teaching as a career option, by my 17th birthday, I knew what I wanted in life — to follow my grandfather Paddy McKeown into the navy. He worked his way up to a warrant officer, which is the highest rank a non-commissioned officer can achieve.”

O’Brien knew in her heart that she wanted to command a ship. But a woman had never been captain of an Irish navy ship, so she realised she would have to work hard to achieve that goal.

“My ship handling skills developed under Captain Owen Mullowney on the LE Emer,” she remembers. “Today, I am proud to be part of the smartest navy. We are highly trained, educated and well received within the international community.”

But things have changed since the early days when joining the navy was seen as a job for life. While some sailors do stay until retirement, others leave after fulfilling their contracts and move on to other careers.

“We are not naive enough to think that people will want to stay here forever, so we have training programmes and courses offering job skills that are marketable outside the navy,” O’Brien points out.

“On board the ship we are much like a small family. We work well together. Mutual respect is shown to the male and female officers.”

The days of the navy being seen as a ‘man’s job’ are long gone. Now driven women such as O’Brien are catapulting themselves into the high pressure world of a life at sea.

Shayne Anderson was Ireland’s first captain to work with women on board a ship. He offered O’Brien great encouragement to develop her training and plenty of room for her to practise what she had learned.

Her potential was apparent to her superior officers from the start, and they encouraged her all the way.

In order to achieve the rank of captain, she had to prove her worth, but now her lifelong ambition has come true. And her commitment and level of professionalism paved the way for other female deck officers to rise through the ranks, too.

Erika Downing is one such woman who rose to the challenge following O’Brien’s success. She joined the Defence Forces Naval Service Division in 1997.

After her Leaving Certificate, she had planned to study law in University College Cork. But her dreams of a career in the navy saw her placing her college education on hold for a life less ordinary — on board a ship.

“In 1997 when I joined, I hadn’t really decided what I wanted for a career. I had been accepted to study law in UCC, but I also wanted to be part of the navy.”

After 10 years at sea, Downing returned to her legal studies, signing up for a night course while still in the navy. “I used the university’s online Blackboard system to study and I graduated with honours,” she smiles. Downing is now a qualified barrister. Her sister has also taken the naval route and is currently training on board the LE Aisling.

In January, Downing is taking command of a ship in the rank of lieutenant commander. We watch as she addresses her charges in the hangar of the ship on the day of our visit. She calls off the ship’s tasks for the day as the crew stands to attention, answering with a resounding, ‘Yes ma’am!’.

“I find that I need to keep a good working relationship with people on board. We all care about our crew members. We build strong friendships that we rely on when we’re away. I like to keep the morale of my personnel up by checking in with them when I am aware that something difficult is going on at home,” says Downing.

Speaking to the women over coffee in the officer’s mess I notice many home comforts, like a flat screen TV with access to Sky. The room is furnished with a large sofa and recliners.

But of course sailors give up many other comforts that we take for granted. “I miss out on a lot of social events by being away,” admits Downing. “My rotation includes a four week patrol at sea, and then two weeks in alongside the base. During the two weeks in I catch up with friends. Sometimes I wonder what I might be doing if I weren’t in this job, but I am so glad I’m doing this now.”

The officers’ cabins are small and efficient. Although the sofas look functional enough, they lack the cosiness of a home couch and Erika points out the lack of a TV in her room. “I enjoy the socialising in the officers’ lounge instead,” she admits.

Her career is peppered with many proud moments. “In 2009 I had the opportunity to read out the Proclamation of the Irish Republic at the GPO for the Easter Rising Commemoration. The President and Taoiseach were both there and I felt a real sense of pride in myself and my country.”

Talking to the sailors, you can’t help but notice their incredible humility, and you can see why people might want to be part of this community.

And that is just how Aisling O’Flynn from Cathedral Road in Cork felt, too. “My father and uncle were both in the navy, and I wanted to make them proud. I love serving my country. This job has instilled a sense of real pride in me.”

Her commitment to achieving the same ranks as her superior female officers is unwavering. “I would love to follow in their footsteps. They paved the way for us and everyone looks up to them.”

O’Flynn spent four years in the Naval Service Reserve prior to joining as a cadet. “Recently, we were deployed to Oslo where we took part in a naval celebration called Kiel Week.”

Today she is helping to protect Irish waters. “I currently serve as a boarding officer. We board the trawlers and make sure they are not taking more than their quota of fish from the sea. We are not out to catch people. Sometimes we might have to deal with criminal drug dealers, but we are trained to handle the situation. I have good friends on board and if you did not get on with people, you wouldn’t stay,” says O’Flynn, as she climbs into her boarding gear — a rather intimidating head-to-toe black and yellow protective suit, and helmet.

Down in the engine room, Siobhan Cleary, an Able/Mech (mechanic), is hard at work. Originally from Dungarvan, Co Waterford, she didn’t know what to do after her final year in school, she says. “I thought about the army, but my sister said she had a friend in the navy who loved it, so I applied and since I have gotten used to the routine, I love it too. On board we are well looked after and male and females work together as equals.”

Since joining the service, Cleary has enjoyed the travel bit of the job. “During my time in recruits I went to France with the ship to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the navy going to Lourdes. It was a great trip. Everyone loved us for being Irish,!” says Cleary.

Enjoying her first day at sea, Sarah O’Connell of Glounthaune, Co Cork, smiles nervously as she describes joining the navy as something of a mid-life crisis.

“I am the only woman in my recruit class and I am 26. Having played basketball for Ireland before, I wanted to be a part of something exciting, different and worthwhile. I had no pride in my last job, and I knew I had to change that.”

“I’m nervous going to sea for the first time,” O’Connell admits, “but I want to make the most of it. I’m not sure which area of work I want to get involved in, so I am hoping the two weeks on board the LE Eithne will help me decide. I want to stay and make a career of this.”