President Michael D Higgins has said he hopes lessons of doomed and delayed housing regeneration schemes have been learnt.

While the first women only officially joined the Army as non-combatants in 1980, their involvement in the Defence Forces goes back to the foundation of the State, when Brigid Lyons Thornton played a role in establishing the Army Medical Corps.

The number of women entering the Defence Forces is growing considerably and is something the military wants to encourage.