Camogie star happy to see women’s role in Army grow

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.

Women were only allowed to serve as nursing and medical staff up to the establishment of the short-lived Women’s Service Corps in January 1980, when they began to train and serve in conventional military roles.

Women proved so adept that their non-combatant role was withdrawn in 1992.